Correlation Between Surface, Thermal, Mechanical and Morphological Properties of Polylactic Acid/Polypropylene and Polylactic Acid/Polyamide 6 Blends

Abstract

In the automotive sector, which is one of the sectors where polymers are mostly used, their behaviour and compatibility in secondary processes such as painting and coating applications are important in the preference of polymers according to their usage areas as well as mechanical and thermal properties. In this context, it is known that surface wettability of a polymer material is of great importance for different application areas and it can be stated that wetting and non-wetting behaviours play an important role in the selection of polymers and their industrial applications. In this study, the contact angle properties of polypropylene (PP) and polyamide 6 (PA6), which are the most used polymers in the automotive sector and their polymer blends prepared by using polylactic acid (PLA) were examined. When PLA/PP and PLA/PA6 mixtures were compared, it was observed that there were significant differences in contact angle measurements and these properties detected in water contact angle measurements were attributed to changes in chemical structures, functional groups and morphology of related polymers. Surface analysis were supported by thermal, mechanical and morphological analysis and differences in static contact angle measurement results were explained.