Preparing Nylon  / PE-g-MA alloys for increasing permeability resistance against gasoline

All plastic underground petrol pipework is subject to a strict limit on fuel permeability. The Institute of Petroleum Performance Specification, sets a limit of 2.0 g/m2.day usingtwo fuels, the first, any commercially available super unleaded fuel, the second, a mixture of 85% ASTM D471 Fuel C and 15% methanol, which effectively consists of 42.5% 2,2,4 trimethylpentane (iso–octane), 42.5% toluene and 15% methanol. Other countries have imposed limits ranging from 4g/m2.day to effectively zero, sets a limit of 24 g/m2.day for pipes that only occasionally contain fuel, such as fill pipes[1].Because Polyethylene / Nylon6 (PE/PA6) blends are thermodynamically immiscible and mechanically incompatible, compatibilizer precursor (CP) have often beenused to improve the interfacial properties between PE and PA, as well as to enhance the barrier properties of PE/PA/CP blends[2, 3].