Effect of ABS types on the morphology and mechanical properties of PA6/ABS blends by in situ reactive extrusion

Abstract The focus was the investigation of the morphology and properties of PA6 blends with core-shell and grafted ABS by in-situ reactive extrusion. The compatibility and morphology of ABS/PA6 compatibilized blend can be controlled by ABS type and blend composition. The morphology results illustrated that submicron-sized ABS droplets were evenly dispersed in core-shell ABS/PA6 blends, resulting in a significant improvement in the impact strength. Aggregation of submicron-sized ABS particles was observed in grafted ABS/PA6 blends, corresponding to lower toughness. Due to having higher contents of the rigid component, the grafted reactive blends presented higher tensile and flexural strengths. This result indicated that the toughening effectiveness of reactive blends was determined by the structure variables of ABS.