Recycling of ABS and ABS/PC blends

The aim of this work within the framework of mechanical recycling of polyme rs is upgrading recycled engineering plastics by means of a blending techni que. Four different plastics from dismantled Volvo cars have been investiga ted. They are poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) (ABS) and ABS-polycarbo nate (ABS/PC) as major components and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polyamide (PA) as minor components. Blending recycled ABS and PC/ABS (70/30 ) with a small amount of methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene core-shell i mpact modifiers gives the mixture better impact properties than any of its individual components. Some 10% of PMMA from tail light housings can follow the PC/ABS blends made. The property profile will rather be improved. Howe ver, PA is an incompatible component that should be sorted out from the mix ture. Antioxidants and metal deactivators do not help the recyclates show b etter mechanical properties. Two toughness measurements, Charpy impact stre ngth and J-integral method, show complimentary results for such blends. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.