## 4 Influence of QACs on Thermo-Mechanical Properties of Polymer Blends and Polymer Composites  
### Influence of QASs and QAILs on Polymer Blends  
Table 7 indicates the thermo-mechanical properties of polymer blends influenced by QASs and QAILs. QAS like HTAB (chemical structure is shown in Figure 5) has been applied for compatibilization of Nylon-6/LNR blends [9]. The application of HTAB influenced the degradation temperature, glass transition temperature, tensile strength, tensile modulus, tensile extension, and impact strength of the blends. The degradation temperature of the blends decreased because LNR possessed lower initial degradation temperature than nylon-6, which deteriorated the degradation temperature of the overall blends. The result also shows a decreasing trend with the blends containing high LNR content, which is also due to the low degradation temperature of LNR compared to nylon-6. Furthermore, the glass transition temperature of the blends also decreased because of the improvement of the compatibility between nylon-6 and LNR. This is caused by HTAB, which consisted of polar and non-polar groups that acted as a compatibilizer by creating interactions between them [9]. Moreover, the mechanical properties, such as tensile strength and tensile modulus of the blends decreased because of the increase of \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**QAILs** & **Abbreviation** & **Compatibilization** & **References** \\ \hline
1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate & EmimAc & Blend/Compposite & [21,56, 57, 58] \\
1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium propionate & EmimPr & Blend & [32] \\
1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromentheshesulfonate & EmimOTf & Composite & [59] \\
1-Allly-3-methylimidazolium bromide & AminBr & Composite & [60] \\
1-Allly-3-methylimidazolium chloride & AmimCl & Blend & [61] \\
1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate & BamimAc & Composite & [62] \\
1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride & BmimCl & Blend/Compposite & [14,19,25,39,63] \\
1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate & EmimPF\({}_{a}\) & Composite & [23] \\
1-Hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate & HmimPF\({}_{b}\) & Composite & [17] \\
1-Dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium & DimNHT\({}_{2}\) & Blend & [12] \\ bis(trifluoromethylomethylsulfonyl)imide & EmimPr & Blend & [12] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 6: Examples of quaternary ammonium ionic liquids (QAILs) applied for compatibilization of polymer blends and polymer composites. Figure 6: Chemical structures of QAILs and the abbreviations are explained in Table 6.  
their segmental movement. It is considered that LNR acted as a stress dilutor, which is responsible for lowering the tensile strength and the tensile modulus. This is induced by the presence of HTAB that is responsible for better homogeneous distribution of LNR in the blends. However, the tensile extension and impact strength of the blends increased by up to 100% and 35%, respectively, compared to the neat nylon-6. This is attributed to the HTAB-compatibilized Nylon-6/LNR blends, which eventually increased the elongation and toughness of the blends [9]. It can be seen in Table 7 that fewer studies have focused on the influence of the QASs on the thermo-mechanical properties of polymer blends. QAS like BDAC (chemical structure is shown in Figure 5) is applied for compatibilization of PET/PE blends [11]. The application of BDAC influenced the degradation temperature, tensile strength, tensile modulus, and tensile extension of the blends. The degradation temperature of the blends decreased because of the presence of the benzyl group and aromatic structure in BDAC that lowered the thermal stability of the blends. Therefore, BDAC acted as a thermal degradation promoter for the blends, which can catalyze the polymer degradation with a thermal dependence. This decreasing trend also occurred in the PP/Nylon-6 blends compatibilized by PP-g-MA [64].