Statistically Designed High and Low Methyl Acrylate (Ma) Containing Ema-Ethylene-Octene Copolymer Double Network Hybrids: Interesting Contrast in Physico-Mechanical, Rheological and Electrical Properties

Abstract

This paper demonstrates interesting contrasts between physical, mechanical and rheological properties of double network hybrids developed from high (30 wt.%) and low (9 wt.%) methyl acrylate containing poly (ethylene-co-methyl acrylate) and poly (ethylene-co-octene) thermoplastic elastomer. The compositions were designed adopting a Taguchi L9 statistical model. The model was espoused to consider a wide range of blend compositions and process conditions for optimization. The majority of the low methyl acrylate containing hybrids showed normal correlation between mechanical and other physical properties with the net gel content while for the other variety, they were ambiguous. The reason was investigated and it was found to be due to the influence of the nature of crosslinks formed between the phases which controlled the properties in the latter. Based on the results, finally, two blend compositions were chosen from each set as the most optimized formulations for future study.