Self-Healing Behavior of Blends Based on Ionomers with Ethylene/Vinyl Alcohol

The effect of blending on the self-healing behavior of an ethylene/methacrylic acid copolymer ionomer is investigated. Binary EMNa/EVA and EMNa/ENR blends are studied by ballistic puncture tests. In the composition range explored (1550?wt% of EVA and ENR), the self-healing characteristics decrease with increasing amount of EVA but are maintained in the whole range for EMNa/ENR blends. The bullet impact zones were observed using OM. Tensile tests showed that the blending process gives the opportunity to tune the mechanical characteristics without significant loss in the self-healing properties, particularly in EMNa/ENR blends. Component compatibility, blend morphology and thermal properties were studied using DSC, SEM, and DMTA. Molecular interactions between the phases in the blends are discussed.