| Abstract: | Lap shear adhesion between laminated sheets of polycarbonate and styrene/acrylonitrile copolymers exhibits a sharp maximum when the acrylonitrile content of the copolymers is in the range of 25–27% by weight. Observations of shifts in glass transitions of the two phases in melt-mixed polycarbonate/SAN blends suggest partial miscibility of one polymer in the other, and this solubility is at a maximum when the SAN copolymer has an acrylonitrile content in the same range causing maximum adhesion. Mechanical properties of injection-molded blends of polycarbonate with various SAN copolymers were also best when the acrylonitrile content was the same as that giving maximum adhesion. The partial miscibility behavior in blends as a function of acrylonitrile content of the copolymer is explained qualitatively in terms of a simple binary interaction model. |
