Thermo‐mechanical and shape memory behavior of TPU/ABS/MWCNTs nanocomposites compatibilized with ABS‐g‐MAH

Thermo‐mechanical and shape memory behavior of melt processed TPU/ABS (80/20 w/w) blends compatibilized with varying amounts of ABS‐g‐MAH loaded with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were discussed. The morphological observations by SEM and TEM techniques confirmed that introduction of ABS‐g‐MAH leads to a significant reduction in the size of ABS domain size due to improvement of interfacial adhesion between the blend components. Incorporation of MWCNTs to the compatibilized blend resulted in further reduction of the ABS droplet size. Mechanical properties investigations revealed that tensile strength of the TPU/ABS blend being about 26.4 MPa increases to 44.6 MPa, that is, about 70% improvement, on incorporation of 6 wt% ABS‐g‐MAH to the noncompatibilized blend. In the same direction, Young's modulus increases ca. 13%. A significant enhancement of about 70% in Young's modulus of the compatibilized blend was observed by inclusion of 2 wt% MWNCNTs. The shape memory results showed that interfacial compatibilization process has a strong positive impact on the shape recovery and shape fixity ratio of the blends. Moreover, loading MWCNTs into the compatibilized blend further improved these features. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:789–800, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers