Characterizations of Poly(vinyl chloride)/Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate Blends for Outdoor Applications

Significant enhancement on impact property of poly(vinyl chloride)/acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (PVC/ASA) blends was observed. The effect of ASA content on mechanical characteristics, including impact strength, themomechanical properties, water absorption, and outdoor weathering durability were investigated. The results suggested that the impact strength of the PVC/ASA blends increased drastically at the ASA content of about 30-40 wt% and at the ASA content of 50 wt%, the significant high impact strength of up to 77.6 kJ/m2 was obtained. The modulus and strength under tensile and flexural loads of PVC/ASA blends were found to increase with the PVC fraction while glass transition temperature of PVC and heat deflection temperature of the blends systematically increased with increasing ASA content. The blends are partially miscible in nature as evidenced from the shift of the two glass transition temperatures towards each other in the dynamic mechanical analysis. In addition, ASA fraction in the blends provides improved resistance to UV radiation for the PVC/ASA blend sample under natural weathering. The obtained PVC/ASA blends clearly showed a potential use as high impact plastic products for outdoor application.