Polymer Blends Of Polyamide-6(Nylon-6) And Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene(ABS) Compatibilized By Styrene-maleic Anhydride(SMA)

The commercially available styrene-maleic anhydride(SMA) has been demonstrated to be a highly effective compatibilizer for polymer blends of Nylon-6 and ABS. SMA is miscible with SAN and tends to be dissolved in the ABS phase during the earlier stages of melt blending. The dissolved SMA has the chance to make contact and reacts with Nylon-6 at the interface to form the desirable SMA-g-Nylon-6 copolymer. This in situ-formed SMA-g- Nylon-6 graft copolymer tends to anchor along the interface to reduce the interfacial tension and results in finer phase domains. The mechanical property improvement of the compatibilized counterparts is drastic. The relationship between SMA contents of Nylon-6/ABS/SMA blends and morphology feather and mechanical properties were studied by TEM, SEM and FTIR. It is shown that, the compatibility of Nylon-6 and ABS is improved by adding SMA. TEM and SEM also shows a noticeable morphological change in the blends on adding SMA, such as good interfacial adhesion, reduction in the particle size of dispersed phase and more uniform distribution.