The effects of small contents of water on melt rheology for ethylene-methacrylic zinc ionomers

Abstract

The effects of small contents of absorbed water on coordinated structure and rheological properties for EMAA-Zn ionomers in terms of dynamic visocoelastic and FT-IR measurement were investigated. To clarify the influence of absorbed water in ionomers, the moisture contents were measured by Karl Fisher Method. It was clarified that zero shear viscosities of EMAA-ionomers were reduced by small contents of absorbed water. We considered that the drastic change of coordinated structure by little amounts of water might induce acid-cation exchange and affect melt rheological properties such as zero shear viscosities. We consider that absorbed water is one of the key factors to control zero shear viscosity in EMAA-Zn ionomer melts ©2008 The Society of Polymer Science.