Polycarbonate (PC)/ Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) Copolymer Nanocomposites: Manufacturing, Structure and Elastic Characteristics

It is well known that acrylonitrile butadiene styrene terpolymer (ABS) is effective to improve polycarbonate (PC) properties because of relatively good technological compatibility of both polymers. Although it is broadly demonstrated that layered silicates are effectively used for modification of exploitation properties of thermoplastic polymers, there is relatively little information about the use of layered silicates for improvement of rheological, mechanical and th ermal properties of polymer blends. This gives the possibility to bring forward the aims and tasks of the current research – to evaluate the effects of the addition of layered silicates on the structure and certain exploitation characteristics of PC/10 wt.% ABS blend, which has been accepted as the most promising candidate in our previous investigations. For sake of ensuring better compatibility between the polymer blend matrix and nanostructured filler organically treated clays have been chosen for modification of the PC blend with 10wt.% of ABS. By considering agglomeration tendencies of the nanofillers as well as price aspects, the amount of the nanostructured clay filler has been changed within the borders of 0-2 wt.%. Especial attention has been paid to improvement of manufacturing technology of the investigated composites. The effectiveness of the technology (twin-screw extruder, two-roll mixer, Brabender type mixer) has been evaluated by determining tensile stress-strain, dynamic-mechanical thermal and impact properties of the investigated PC/ABS blend nanocomposites. The efficiency of nanoclay distribution in the polymer blend matrix has been evaluated by means of DSC and XRD analysis. In general it has been determined that by purposeful modification of the manufacturing technology it is possible considerably increase stress-strain characteristics of the investigated nanocomposites. Improvement of stress-strain behavior of the PC/10 wt.% ABS nanocomposites has been accompanied with increment of the clay gallery spacing leading to the development of intercalated nanocomposites. Besides it shift of glass transition temperatures of the polymeric constituents of the investigated nanocomposites towards direction of higher temperatures along with addition of nanoclay allow assuming certain interaction between polymer macromolecules and clay nanofillers in their vicinity