Melt flow properties of polypropylene/EPDM/glass bead ternary composites

The flow properties of polypropylene(PP)/ethylene-propylene-diene monomer copolymer(EPDM)/glass bead (GB) ternary composites were measured in a wide scope of shear rates by using a Rosand capillary rheometer. The apparent shear rates varied from 10 to 105 s−1, and the test temperature was from 210 to 240°C. The results showed that the flow behavior of the composite melts may be considered to approximate that of a power law fluid although the slope of the melt flow curves somewhat varied around shear rate of 700 s− 1. The dependence of the melt shear viscosity on the test temperature was roughtly consistent with the Arrhenius expression. The melt shear viscosity increased dramatically with increasing the volume fraction (φg) of GB under lower shear rate level, white it increased gently with an addition of φg under higher shear rate level. Furthermore, there were certain effects of the filler surface treatment on the melt shear viscosity and its sentivity to the filler content at higher concentration of the beads at lower shear rates.