Effect of functionality levels and compatibility of polycarbonate blends with maleic anhydride grafted ABS

ABS was melt grafted with maleic anhydride at three different levels of 1, 2, and 3 wt %. These three different modified ABSs were melt blended with p olycarbonate using a single-screw extruder to choose a suitable maleic anhy dride grafting level on ABS for better performance. For the compatibility s tudy, binary blends of polycarbonate with ABS and maleic anhydride-grafted ABS were prepared over the entire range of compositions. Compatibility of t hese blends was studied using a Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer and by Differen tial Scanning Calorimetry. Both techniques suggest more partial compatibili ty for modified blend systems. In addition to this, DSC thermograms show mu ltiple peaks between the transition points of ABS fractions and polycarbona te fractions for the polycarbonate/maleic anhydride-grafted ABS blends. The se multiple peaks are characteristic of better partial compatibility with f ine microstructure. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.