Abstract: Into blends of polypropylene (PP) and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (PE-UHMW) different compatibilizers (PP-g-MAH, PE-LLD, ABS) were introduced, the resulted mechanical properties and microstructure were investigated. It was found that ABS constituted the best compatibilizer for this system. SEM and polarization microscope showed that ABS could reduce the size of spherulites in the blends, and increased the impact strength of to 113.31 J/m. The introduction of ABS decreased the elongation at break of the blends, but did not affect the tensile strength.

Key words: polypropylene, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, micromorphology, compatibility, toughing