Effect of Maleic Anhydride Modification on the Mechanical Properties of a Highly Filled Glass Fibre Reinforced, Low-Viscosity Polypropylene for Injection Moulding

<p class="1Body">Short glass fibre reinforcement is one of the most important measures to improve the mechanical properties of injection moulded parts. The need for increasing performance leads to high fibre contents which is a critical fact due to the contrasting behaviour of strength, stiffness and impact properties. In this study a high-fluidity polypropylene (PP) is compounded with short glass fibres up to 70 weight percent and comparatively investigated with the adding of maleic anhydride (MAH) as compatibilizer. Due to the high fluidity of the PP, which ensures a good embedding of the fibres, the tensile modulus increases up to 65 weight percent, tensile strength up to 50 weight percent of glass fibre content. Adding the MAH increases strength and impact properties, while the tensile modulus only shows an improvement at high fibre content. The influence of the compatibilizer effect diminishes at higher fibre contents, especially for the impact strength which could so far not be clarified exactly. Reasons could be the reduction of fibre length at higher fibre contents and the increasing influence of the brittle fibre component. With the adding of MAH the contrasting behaviour of the impact properties in comparison to strength and stiffness can be reduced and the optimum over all mechanical properties can be shifted to higher fibre contents.</p>