MISCIBLE AND IMMISCIBLE BLENDS OF ABS WITH PMMA .1. MORPHOLOGY AND RHEOLOGY

Melt blends of ABS and PMMA were prepared using three types of ABS having different acrylonitrile (AN) content, and PMMAs with different MW. From TEM micrographs, it was found that ABSs containing 24 and 27 wt % AN were miscible, and the one containing 35 wt % AN was immiscible with PMMA. Morphologically miscible blends showed well-defined semicircles in Cole-Cole plots, whereas immiscible ones showed immiscible drifts from the semicircle. In addition, as the compounding temperature increases, the dispersed PMMA phase became stratified, and more rubber particles, especially larger ones, migrated toward the PMMA phase. Miscible blends gave viscosities lower than additivity would predict, whereas immiscible ones gave positive (ABS-rich phase) and negative (PMMA-rich phase) deviations from the additivity.