| Abstract: | Primary amine terminated polystyrene (PS-NH2), with Mn=12,000 g/mol and Mw=23,000 g/mol, was applied as a reactive compatibilizer for poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride)/poly(phenylene oxide) (SMA/PPO) blends, in which both an impact modifier for the continuous SMA phase, viz. ABS, and the dispersed PPO phase, viz. SEBS, was incorporated. During melt blending, SMA-g-PS copolymers are generated at the interface between the SMA/ABS and the PPO/SEBS phases. The addition of 10 wt % of the reactive PS-NH2 compatibilizer to a SMA/ABS/PPO/SEBS 30/30/30/10 blend results in a more significant refinement of the dispersed PPO/SEBS particles than 10 wt % of a commercially available, bulky PS-graft-PMMA copolymer with Mn=45,300 and Mw=293,400 g/mol. In addition, PS-NH2 gives a more pronounced enhancement of the yield stress, the stress at break and the notched Izod Impact than the PS-g-PMMA. On the other hand, the elongation at break is higher in the case of the non-reactive PS-g-PMMA. It was demonstrated that surface imperfections, probably introduced by an observed strongly elastic character due to partial crosslinking of the SMA/ABS phase by difunctional H2N-PS-NH2, are responsible for the lower elongation at break for the PS-NH2 based blends. |
