Polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PC/ABS) blends are well-known for balancing the thermal, mechanical performance and processability of both the neat polymers. Therefore, it has been widely used for Material Extrusion (MEX) method. To further improve the properties of the blend, styrene-maleic anhydride (SMA) is employed as a compatibilizing agent, aiming at establishing better interfacial adhesion between the two phases of the two standalone polymers. In light of this, the influences of adding SMA are explored in this paper. Particularly, thermal properties, chemical structure, and mechanical property in terms of tensile strength of the PC/ABS before and after adding SMA are compared. In addition, a Design of Experiment (DoE) study is conducted for screening the effects of different printing parameters on the output tensile strength, from which the optimal process can be selected. The improvement of the PC/ABS/SMA blend is proven from the experimental results which are detailed in this study.
Science Journal 