Effect of rubber contents on brittle-tough transition in acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene blends

In this study, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) blends were prepared by blending polybutadiene-grafted styrene-acrylonitrile (PB-g-SAN) and SAN resins. The effects of PB-g-SAN content on the mechanical behaviors of ABS blends were investigated with several techniques. The effects of PB-g-SAN content on the brittle-tough transition of ABS blends were studied. As a result, the impact strength of ABS blends was significantly increased with increasing the PB-g-SAN content. Whereas, other properties, such as flexural strength, flexural modulus, tensile strength, melt flow index, and Rockwell hardness, were decreased when PB-g-SAN content increased. It was observed that the brittle-tough transition of ABS blends occurred by increasing PB-g-SAN content. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.