TG and flammability studies on polymer blends containing acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and chlorinated poly(vinyl chloride)

The effects which an iron(III) based smoke suppressing compound have on the thermal stability of some acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene/chlorinated poly(vinyl chloride) (ABS/CPVC) polymer blends have been investigated. Thermogravimetric analysis (TG) experiments have shown that there are three distinctive stages occurring during the thermal breakdown of these blends both when the iron compound is absent and present in the polymer formulations. The most important effect which the iron compound has when it is present in these blends is to modify the decomposition chemistry which takes place and the effect becomes more pronounced as the concentration of CPVC present in the blends increases. Other important effects are that the iron compound stabilises the blends so that mass loss is significantly reduced (by up to 50% in some cases) and the onset temperature of decomposition is raised. Flammability data generated during earlier work is supported by the TG results obtained in this work especially in the important area of smoke formation and suppression.