Preparation of polypropylene / polyamide / ethylene-propylene-diene-monomer composites by using different fillers and ratios and investigation of their properties

Composite materials are used today in all areas of our lives. The first synthetic polymer composition, bakelite, was produced in 1907. Since then, many polymer composites have been prepared and widely used. Composites are prepared by combining one or more materials and reflects the best properties of each of them to the final product. In polymeric composites, the main ingredient should be at least one polymer. Generally, additives are used in polymeric composites for many purposes. In addition to this, preparation methods of composites are a critical parameter. Additives and production method are selected according to final product's properties. Fillers are the most common additives and they are used to make cheap the composites and also improving the properties, especially mechanical properties. When mineral fillers are used in composites, it is very hard to mix fillers and polymers because of incompatibility problem. Compatibilizers are used to solve this problem. In addition to these two types of additives, there are many other additive materials such as production aids, color additives, antioxidants etc. More complex composite materials are being made with developing polymer and polymer composites technology. Especially in recent years, there have been many studies on developing new materials by adding different additives to the binary or ternary polymer matrices. With these studies, many new polymeric composites are released to market in a wide range. In this study, polypropylene (PP) and polyamide (PA) plastics with ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber which they are widely used in the industry, are mixed to achieve developing a new composite which is elastic but also rigid material which can be used at high temperatures. To obtain good mechanical properties, white fillers were added to polymeric composites. Two different compatibilizers were used for improving interaction between polymers and fillers. All these materials were mixed in an extruder and test samples were prepared by using an injection machine. The results showed that the addition of compatibilizers to the EPDM, PP and PA mixture improves the mechanical properties. Maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene increased the mechanical properties of ternary composites much more than maleic anhydride grafted ethylene propylene monomer. The addition of PA to the EPDM-PP mixture increased the tear strength. In addition to these results, when bentonite and silica were added to the mixture as white fillers, it was found that silica had more reinforcement effect compared with bentonite. When EPDM was added to PP and PA polymers which are thermoplastic, it was observed that both loss and storage modules were increased. This effect was increased when the compatibilizer was added to the mixtures. When EPDM was added to PP-PA blend, it was observed that both loss and storage modules were increased. This effect was increased when the compatibilizer was added to the mixtures.