Abstract
The influences of combined elastomers on impact properties and morphology of polypropylene (PP)/elastomer/CaCO3 ternary composites were investigated. In the case that polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene-butene)-block-polystyrene triblock copolymer (SEBS) and poly(ethylene-co-octene) (EOR) were used as elastomers, a sea-island structure consisting of EOR dispersed phase and SEBS continuous phase was formed. The elastomer and the CaCO3 particles were separately dispersed in PP matrix. In the case that carboxylated SEBS (C-SEBS) and EOR were used, the C-SEBS particles were dispersed in the EOR particles. Almost all of the CaCO3 particles were dispersed in the PP matrix, although some of the CaCO3 particles were dispersed in the C-SEBS/EOR combined particles. Impact strength improved with an increase of incorporated CaCO3 particles. The effect of elastomer on the impact strength was SEBS ≥ SEBS/EOR > EOR = C-SEBS/EOR > C-SEBS. The morphology formed by elastomer and CaCO3 particles strongly affected the impact properties of the ternary composites.