| Abstract: | The dynamic mechanical properties of A‐glass bead filled polypropylene (PP)/ethylene–propylene–diene monomers polymer (EPDM) ternary composites have been measured over a temperature range from ?80 °C to 100 °C and at a fixed frequency of 1 Hz, using a dynamic mechanical analyser (DMA), to identify the effects of the filler content and its surface treatment with a silane coupling agent on the dynamic viscoelastic behaviour. The results show that the storage modulus (E′c) and loss modulus (E ″c) of these composites with 10% volume fraction of EPDM at 25 °C increase non‐linearly with increasing volume fraction of glass beads (?g). At the same test conditions, the E′c value of the PP/EPDM filled with pretreated glass beads is higher than that of the uncoated glass bead filled PP/EPDM system, especially at higher ?g, while the difference in E ″c between both systems is very small. The mechanical damping for the former decreases with increasing ?g, but the opposite is true for the latter. The glass transition temperature of these composites varies irregularly with ?g. The dynamic complex viscosity increases nonlinearly with an increase of ?g. In addition, the interfacial structure between the matrix and inclusions has been observed by means of a scanning electron microscope. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry |
