| Abstract: | The morphology and notched impact behaviour of polyamide-1010/polystyrene (PA1010/PS) (90/10) blends compatibilized by carboxylated polystyrene (CPS) have been studied. It is found that the addition of CPS has a beneficial effect upon the morphology of the resulting blends which leads to a finer dispersion of the PA1010 spherulites and of the PS particles in the PA1010 matrix. However, with increasing CPS content, the shape of the PS domains appears less regular, which may be due to the cracking of the PS spherical domains. Infrared analysis was performed to confirm the formation of PS–PA1010 graft copolymer during the blending process. The notched impact toughness of the compatibilized blends shows a maximum which is almost triple that of the binary blend at approximately 5 wt% of the CPS addition based on the amount of PS. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry |
