Toughening Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN) by Functionalized Acrylate Elastomers

Polyesters are extensively utilized across various fields due to their superior physical and chemical properties; enhancing the toughness of polyesters is currently imperative for extending their applications. In this study, a novel acrylate elastomer (BMHx) with controllable hydroxyl groups was designed to melt-blend with polyethylene naphthalene (PEN), to enhance the fracture toughness of PEN. The hydroxyl group in BMHx can effectively enhance the compatibility of PEN and BMHx, thus reducing the average particle size of BMHx to endow it to disperse in PEN more uniformly, leading to a high toughness PEN material. The tensile toughness of PEN/BMH10 can reach 4.01 MJ/m3, and the notched impact strength is 8.02 kJ/m2, which are 18 times and 3.8 times higher than that of PEN, respectively. These findings provide a new strategy to toughen the polyester and thus a general usefulness.