Study of the effect of poly(acrylonitrile-co-butadiene-co-styrene) on the mechanical properties of an epoxy system

The mechanical properties of an epoxy system containing a diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A and 1,3‐bis(aminomethylcyclohexane) modified with different amounts of poly(acrylonitrile‐co‐butadiene‐co‐styrene) (ABS) were studied. Properties examined include tensile stress, percentage strain, tensile modulus, and tensile toughness determined in tensile tests, Rockwell hardness, and energy and maximum force to break a specimen in Charpy impact tests. The effect of the modification produced with the ABS was also studied using statistical methods including analysis of variance and multiple comparisons. The obtained data showed a significant effect of the modification produced with the ABS on the mechanical properties of this epoxy system, especially with the amount of 5 ABS per hundred parts of resin on the tensile properties and on the hardness. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 461–467, 2004