Taguchi analysis of extrusion variables and composition effects on the morphology and mechanical properties of EPR-g-MA toughened polyamide 6 and its composite with short glass fiber

Various compositions of maleated ethylene-propylene-rubber (EPR-g-MA) toughened polyamide 6 without and with short glass fiber, i.e. 5–20 wt.% rubber and 5–20 wt.% fiber, are prepared using an industrial twin-screw extruder at different levels of feed rate (100–250 kg/h), screw speed (200–450 rpm) and barrel temperature (230–260 °C). Trial runs designed based on the Taguchi’s orthogonal arrays are subjected to tensile, impact, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy tests; and the results are used to perform the analysis of variance (ANOVA). It is shown that the rubber particle size decreases significantly by increasing the rubber content for the unreinforced blend. The results also indicate that the composition of the compounds is the most influential factor on the phase morphology and mechanical properties of both the unreinforced and reinforced blends compared to the extrusion variables. But the processing parameters can also influence the performance characteristics slightly. The most important processing parameter, among the others, is shown to be the mixing temperature, which decreases the fiber length greatly and leads to the thermo-mechanical degradation of the polymers above 240 °C.