High-Strength and High-Toughness Nylon-11/Polyethylene-Graft-Maleic Anhydride Films via Irradiation-Assisted Melt Stretching

Blending nylon with polyolefins presents a cost-effective and readily adoptable strategy to optimize material performance and expand applications. However, the inherent thermodynamic immiscibility between these polymers poses significant challenges for effective modification. Herein, nylon-11 (PA11) was blended with polyethylene-graft-maleic anhydride (PEMA) to fabricate high-performance blend films through a combined process of γ-ray irradiation and melt stretching. Microstructural and morphological analyses reveal that irradiation promotes interfacial reactions between the PA11 and PEMA domains, thereby enhancing their interfacial compatibility. Furthermore, irradiation induces chain cross-linking within PEMA, which works synergistically with improved interfacial bonding to form a robust chain network throughout the blends. This facilitates chain alignment during the subsequent melt stretching process, promoting the development of a highly oriented crystalline morphology. The high crystalline orientation, together with improved interfacial adhesion, enables efficient stress transfer between the PA11 and PEMA phases, yielding melt-stretched films that simultaneously exhibit high strength, high modulus, and high toughness. Additionally, the modified microstructure imparts high optical transparency and reduced hydrophilicity to the films. This study provides a feasible approach toward the scalable production of high-performance PA11/polyolefin blend films.