Cyclo-olefin copolymer/poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) blends: Structure-property relationships and morphological, rheological, and mechanical properties

In this study, blends of cyclo-olefin copolymers (COC) that had different monomer compositions and poly(Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene) (ABS) were prepared and variations in their morphological, rheological, and dynamic mechanical properties were investigated. In the morphological analyses, it was seen that all blends with 50/50% composition had a co-continuous morphology, while droplet-matrix morphology was observed for the other compositions. Melt-state shear modulus and viscosity increased with the addition of ABS for the blends prepared with COC derivatives containing 40% and 68% norbornene content by weight, while there was no significant change in the modulus values of those prepared with the COC derivative containing 76% norbornene by weight. On the contrary to other blends, it was observed that the modulus values decreased with the addition of ABS in the blends prepared with COC with 82% norbornene content. Evaluation of the SEM images and Cole-Cole plots indicated that COC-rich blends were more compatible than the ABS-rich blends in the case COC with lower norbornene content was used in polymer blends, while ABS-rich blends became more compatible with increasing norbornene content of COC.