Thermal degradation of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene terpolymer in bean oil

Thermal degradation of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene terpolymer (ABS) in bean oil has been carried out in the temperature 350 and 370 degreesC. The degradation products have been investigated by means of gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and fourier transform infra-red spectrometry (FTIR). With the presence of bean oil, ABS thermally degrades into asphalt-like degradation residue, which is soluble in common organic solvent such as tetrahydrofuran (THF), instead of monomer and oligomers that are usually generated in direct pyrolysis of ABS. Moreover, for the system of ABS/bean oil the cross-linking reaction of ABS with bean oil takes place and forms a polymer network before the decomposition of ABS. Between the two reaction stages, the polymerization or oligomerization of sequence of adjacent nitrile groups occurs. The thermal degradation of ABS in bean oil was believed to be a radical process, which is dependent on the reaction condition, especially the concentration of bean oil, reaction temperature and time. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.