ABSTRACT:The effects of the processing temperature on the morphology and mechanical properties at the weld line of 60/40 (w/w) polycarbonate (PC)/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) copolymer blends were investigated. The influences of the incorporation of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as a compatibilizer and an increase in the viscosity of the dispersed ABS domain phase were also studied. The ABS domain was well dispersed in the region below the V notch, and a coarse morphology in the core region was observed. When tensile stress was applied perpendicularly to the weld line, the fracture propagated along the weak region behind the weld part; there, the domain phase coalescence was significant because of the poor compatibility between PC and styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN). Phase coalescence became severe, and so the mechanical strength of the welded specimen decreased with an increasing injection-molding temperature. The domain morphology became stable and the mechanical strength increased as the viscosity of the domain phase increased or some SAN was replaced with PMMA. That the morphology was well distributed behind the weld line and the mechanical properties of PC/ABS/PMMA blends were improved was attributed to the compatibilizing effect of PMMA.

The effects of reactive compatibilizer and processing temperature on the morphology and the mechanical properties at the weld line of 60/40 (wt/wt) polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) copolymer blends were investigated. Amine functionalized styrene/n-phenyl maleimide/maleic anhydride terpolymer (amine-SPMIMA) was used as the in-situ reactive compatibilizer for PC/ABS blend. Weld tensile strength increased as the content of amine-SPMIMA was increased. Weld impact strength showed maximum value for the blend containing about 3% amine-SPMIMA. The variation in the mechanical property at the weld line was correlated with the change in the morphology of the blend.

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Blends of polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/polypropylene (PP) and the ternary copolymer ethylene-acrylic ester-glycidyl methacrylate (EAG) as the compatibilizer were prepared using a twin-screw extruder. The thermal properties, densities and morphologies of the blends were determined using various techniques. Next, PET/PP blend fibres were prepared using a melt-spinning system, and their curl properties were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results showed that the number of PP particles in the PET matrix and size of the PP phase decreased as the EAG content increased. The melting temperature (T m) and cooling crystallization (T cc) values of PP in the PET/PP blends decreased significantly after the addition of 1% EAG. The density of the PET/PP blend fibres decreased significantly with increase in the EAG and PP contents. After curl formation, the curl length of PP in the fibres was shorter than that of PET.

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