Abstract: | Oxygen and water vapor permeability studies were carried out on binary polyethylene/polyamide immiscible blends incorporating three polyethylene resins (LDPE, LLDPE, and HDsPE), and three polyamide resins (PA-6, PA-6,6, and modified PA-6,6m). It was found that the incorporation of PA into PE reduces the oxygen permeability while water vapor permeability is increased. In the range of 0 to 30 weight percent of PA, the oxygen permeability of PE was reduced by a factor of 2.8 to 3.6. Maximum water vapor permeabilities increased: for HDPE by a factor of about 2.6 to 3.1 and for LDPE and LLDPE blends by about 1.6. |