Simultaneously improved heat-resistance and mechanical performance of core/shell-structure poly (butyl acrylate)/poly (acrylonitrile-styrene) using poly (α-methylstyrene-acrylonitrile)

Poly (α-methylstyrene-acrylonitrile) (α-MSAN), a rigid polymer, was used to simultaneously improve the heat resistance and mechanical performance of core/shell-structure poly (butyl acrylate)/poly (acrylonitrile-styrene) (PBA-SAN). With the addition of 30 wt% α-MSAN, the heat distortion temperature (0.45 MPa), tensile strength, flexural strength and flexural modulus of PBA-SAN drastically increased by 51 °C, 8.3 MPa, 19.8 MPa, and 611 MPa, respectively. Dynamic mechanical analysis results suggested that α-MSAN not only restricted the glass transition behavior of PBA core, but also increased the glass transition temperature of SAN shell, which was the main reason for the considerable improvement in heat resistance and mechanical performance.