US EPA

1175047 

Journal Article 

The thermal degradation of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene terpolymei as studied by TGA/FTIR 

Suzuki, M; Wilkie, CA 

1995 

1 

Polymer Degradation and Stability
ISSN: 0141-3910 

47 

2 

217-221 

English 

10.1016/0141-3910(94)00122-o 

WOS:A1995QP98400006 

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/014139109400122O
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The thermal degradation of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) terpolymer has been studied by TGA/FTIR. The degradation of ABS is compared with that of polystyrene, polybutadiene, polyacrylonitrile (PAN), and styreneacrylonitrile (SAN) copolymer. A small amount of acrylonitrile monomer is eliminated from PAN, SAN, and ABS. The grafting of butadiene on to SAN stabilizes the butadiene structure, since the evolution of butadiene begins 50 °C higher than in the homopolymer. The evolution of aromatics begins about 20 °C lower in ABS than in SAN, so the presence of the butadiene destabilizes SAN. The evolution of acrylonitrile begins at essentially the same temperature in ABS as in SAN. There are some significant effects on the degradation produced by grafting SAN onto polybutadiene but the degradation may be understood by considering the degradation of its components.