Poly1-hexene: New impact modifier in HIPS technology

Poly1-hexene was prepared using a conventional heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalyst and its stereoregularity was characterized using C-13-NMR analysis. New kind of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) was prepared by radical polymerization of styrene in the presence of different amounts of synthesized poly1-hexene (PH) as impact modifier (HIPS/PH) and compared with conventional high impact polystyrene with polybutadiene (HIPS/PB) as rubber phase. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the dispersion of poly1-hexene in polystyrene matrix was more uniform compared with it in HIPS/PB. The impact strength of HIPS/PH was 29-79% and 80-289% higher than that in HIPS/PB and neat polystyrene, respectively. FTIR was used to confirm more durability of HIPS/PH samples toward ozonation. To study the effect of rubber type and amount on the T(g)s of polystyrene, differential scanning calorimetry was employed. Results obtained from TGA demonstrated higher thermal stability of HIPS/PH sample in comparison with conventional HIPS/PB one. Our obtained results suggest new high impact polystyrene that in all studied aspects has better performance than the conventional HIPS. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.