Blends of bisphenol A polycarbonate and rubber-toughened styrene-maleic anhydride copolymers

The morphology and mechanical properties of polycarbonate (PC) blends with rubber-toughened styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer materials (TSMA) were i nvestigated and compared with the properties of blends of PC with acrylonit rile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) materials. The PC/TSMA. blends showed similar composition dependence of properties as the comparable PC/ABS blends. Polyc arbonate blends with TSMA exhibited higher notched Izod impact toughness th an pure PC under sharp-notched conditions but the improvements are somewhat less than observed for similar blends with ABS. Since PC is known for its impact toughness except under sharp-notched conditions, this represents a s ignificant advantage of the rubber-modified blends. PC blends with styrene- maleic anhydride copolymer (SMA) were compared to those with a styrene-acry lonitrile copolymer (SAN). The trends in blend morphology and mechanical pr operties were found to be qualitatively similar for the two types of copoly mers. PC/SMA blends are nearly transparent or slightly pearlescent. (C) 199 9 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.