Abstract
Thermal- and photo-stabilities of unstabilized acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene terpolymer, ABS, have been investigated by i.r. spectroscopy. Degradation of ABS samples is initiated by attack on the polybutadiene (PB) component; oxidation products containing hydroxyl and carbonyl groups are produced. The effect of prior thermal processing is to introduce into the polymer hydroperoxides arising from oxidative destruction of PB-unsaturation; these hydroperoxides act as catalysts during subsequent u.v. irradiation. The insolubility of degraded samples of ABS is associated with the formation of cross-linked structures and occurs mainly in the PB segment. It is concluded that the degradation characteristics of ABS are essentially those of the polybutadiene component.
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