Properties of compatibilized nylon 6/ABS blends part I. Effect of ABS type

Blends of nylon 6 with four acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) materials were investigated over a range of compositions using an imidized acrylic (IA) polymer as the compatibilizing agent. The IA material is miscible with the SAN matrix and is able to react with the amine end groups of nylon 6 during melt processing. The effects of ABS type and blend composition on the morphological, rheological and mechanical behavior of these blends were explored at a fixed (5 wt.%) compatibilizer content. In general, incorporation of the IA polymer can lead to super tough blends using a broad range of ABS materials. Of the ABS materials used, those with a monodisperse population of butadiene rubber particles and low melt viscosity were found to generate blends with superior low temperature toughness compared to those with broad particle size distributions and higher viscosity. In several compatibilized blends, increasing the ratio of nylon 6 to ABS improved the modulus and yield strength and did not significantly affect the room temperature impact strength up to a certain level; however, the ductile-to-brittle transition temperatures of these blends were quite sensitive to the amount of rubber in the blend, and increased steadily with increasing nylon 6/ABS ratio. The effect of compatibilizer content on blend properties was determined at a fixed ratio of nylon 6 to ABS. Super tough materials can be generated using very small (0.5 wt.%) amounts of the imidized acrylic polymer. Further increases in compatibilizer content did not significantly affect the room temperature impact strength, but did improve the low temperature toughness. When processing characteristics are considered, there is no justification to use more than about 2 wt.% of this compatibilizer. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.