The blending and white spirit permeation properties of the MPAEVOH blends of modified polyamide (MPA) and ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) were systematically investigated in this study. Three types of EVOHs with varying vinyl alcohol contents were used to prepare the MPAEVOH resins by melt blending them with the MPA resin, respectively. The peak melting temperatures and percentage crystallinity (W-c ) values of the EVOH specimens increase significantly as their vinyl alcohol contents increase. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the melt-crystallized EVOH crystals transform from monoclinic to orthorhombic lattice as their vinyl alcohol contents are equal to or less than 56 wt %. After blending EVOH in MPA resins, the main melting endotherms and characteristic X-ray diffraction patterns of both monoclinic and orthorhombic lattices of EVOH crystals originally present in MPAEVOH specimens almost disappear completely, when the weight ratios of MPA to EVOH are equal to or greater than 4. The free-volume properties and white spirit permeation rates of the EVOH specimens reduce significantly as their vinyl alcohol contents increase. A noticeable "negative deviation" was found on the plots of white spirit permeation rates, annihilation intensity (I-3), and/or fractional free-volume (F-v) versus MPA contents as the MPA contents of each MPAEVOH sample series reach about 80 wt %. Possible reasons accounting for these interesting blending and barrier properties of MPAEVOH specimens are discussed. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.