Toughening of polymers using blending

Abstract

Polymers can be found almost everywhere in our modern day life. Polymer science has evolved tremendously since polymer was first synthesised. The many applications of polymer means that polymer is seldom used in its virgin form today; instead, a polymer is blended with another polymer to get the desired mechanical, chemical or even aesthetic properties. However, the blending of two or more different types of polymers may also lead to a loss in the properties of the new material, mainly due to the incompatibility of the materials used. In such situations, it is undesirable. So the need arises to blend materials in such a way that it will improve the properties of the resulting blend. The properties of the blend depend on factors such as (1) what type of material is used and (2) the ratio of the polymer/additive. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate how the properties of a polymer blend will change with (1) the amount of recycled material added and (2) the type of material added. In this study, the properties of polypropylene (PP), poly(acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene) (ABS) and blends of polymers (PP-ABS, PP-HIPS and ABS-HIPS) will be investigated using DSC, TGA, impact machine, tensile testing machine and MFI. All materials used in this study are kindly provided by Resin and Pigments Technologies Pte Ltd.