Cryogenic Treatment to tailor the Interface of Impact Modified PET/PBT Blends

Abstract Cryogenic treatment of polymers is a well-known area of research these days. Many reports confirm the fact that similar to metals, polymeric materials also undergo some structural changes which ultimately enhances mechanical properties like wear performance, tensile strength, impact strength, elongation, hardness, etc. The cryogenic treatment has proven an advantage for improving the properties of both virgin polymers and polymer micro-/nano-composites. The present study, first of its kind, reports the effect of cryogenic treatment on polymeric blends. An attempt is made to explore the effect of the treatment parameters, like temperature and time, on impact modified and unmodified PET/PBT blends. Similar to the polymers and composites, the blend systems studied here reflect significant improvement by ~ 50% in wear performance, ~ 16–19% in tensile strength and ~ 9% in impact strength after cryogenic treatment. Thus, after extensive analysis of the material properties, structure and thermal behavior, cryogenic treatment of PET/PBT blends, both impact modified and unmodified, is advocated as an effective tool for improving the performance.