Preparation and Properties of Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene Copolymer/Clay Nanocomposite

Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene Copolymer(ABS)/Clay Nanocomposites have been prepared by the melt intercalation method with a twin screw extruder. In the nanocomposite, the silicate layers of montmorillonite were not exfoliated to monolayers, but were dispersed to 5 to 10 stacked layers. These stacked silicate layers of montmorillonite were around butadiene rubber domains of the high impact polystyrene in ABS. This unique dispersion state is the result from the intercalation of polystyrene into silicate layers. When 5 wt% clay was added, tensile modulus was 1.2 times greater than that of ABS.