Liquid crystalline polymer blends as fillers for self-reinforcing polymer composites

Blending is a widely used technique for improving the mechanical, rheological and degradative properties of various polymeric materials. It offers the opportunity to formulate a material with more desirable characteristics than either of the individual components. From industrial perspectives, polymer blends with continuous microstructure exhibit good impact properties when compared with blends exhibiting non-continuous microstructure. In this chapter, the use of liquid crystalline polymers as fillers for self-reinforced polymer composites, and the effects of processing parameters on the morphological developments and the mechanical properties of a self-reinforced PET/LCP composite is described. The effects of the processing parameters were investigated through two techniques: SEM, to examine morphological changes, and tensile testing, to determine the mechanical property dependence of the processing parameters such as mixing speeds, injection speeds, and melt temperatures. The correlation between structure development during injection molding, and the modulus of injection molded PET/LCP blends were also investigated. Process parameters such as injection speed and melt temperature were varied to determine the effect of these parameters on the modulus and structure of the blends.