Reactive Nano-Fe3O4 compatibilized magnetic super-tough PA1212/POE-g-MAH composites with a filler-network structure

Abstract Here, a new inorganic-organic magnetic super-tough PA composite was developed via simply melt blending with POE-g-MAH and reactive nano PA-Fe3O4 simultaneously. The reactive PA-Fe3O4 was prepared by in-situ anion polymerization PA with amino-modified Fe3O4, endowing PA-Fe3O4 strong interaction with both PA and POE-g-MAH, resulting in much more uniform POE-g-MAH dispersed phase with tripled droplet number. Meanwhile, as confirmed by the rheological and morphological results, a synergistically toughened “core-shell” filler-network structure of (POE-g-MAH)–(PA-Fe3O4) was formed in the composite, contributing to dramatically enhanced toughness of PA matrix without decreasing strength via the incorporation of a trace amount of PA-Fe3O4. In particular, the notched impact toughness of PA/POE-g-MAH/PA-Fe3O4 composites (weight ratio = 94:6:2.1) reached up to 97.7 kJ/m2, which was 9 and 3 times higher than that of neat PA and PA/POE-g-MAH blend, respectively. It also found that mechanical properties were correlated with the gel point in the blending behavior of functionalized inorganic-organic reactivity. Furthermore, the as-obtained super-tough PA composite exhibited excellent magnetic performance due to the existence of the trace amount of PA-Fe3O4. This study provides a novel and feasible strategy to fabricate functional super-tough polymer composites via designing and controlling the structure in the composites.