Reactivity of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene terpolymer grafted with long-chain unsaturated carboxylic acids

Reactivity of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene terpolymer (ABS) grafted with long-chain carboxylic acids, such as undecylenic acid and oleic acid, was investigated and compared with that of ABS grafted with short-chain carboxylic acids by reacting with dodecylamine, glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), and 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline in solution, and with polyamide (PA) in melt. The overall activation energy of ABS-g-acrylic acid, ABS-g-crotonic acid, ABS-g-undecylenic acid and ABS-g-oleic acid reacting with dodecylamine was 31.2, 16.2, 18.2 and 21.6 kJ/mol, respectively. The overall activation energy of ABS-g-acrylic acid, ABS-g-crotonic acid, ABS-g-undecylenic acid and ABS-g-oleic acid reacting with GMA was 29.0, 31.9, 61.4 and 61.8 kJ/mol, respectively. The stronger the acidity of grafted acid, the higher the percentage of the grafted acid reacted. The overall activation energy of ABS-g-acrylic acid, ABS-g-crotonic acid, ABS-g-undecylenic acid and ABS-g-oleic acid reacting with 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline was 19.5, 20.9, 23.4 and 24.5 kJ/mol, respectively. The lower the steric hindrance and the higher the chain mobility of grafted acid, the higher the percentage of the grafted acid reacted. The reactivity of dodecylamine, GMA and 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline reacting with grafted ABS is: GMA<2-ethyl-2-oxazoline<dodecylamine. The reactivity of grafted polymer is: ABS-g-acrylic acid<ABS-g-crotonic acid<ABS-g-oleic acid<ABS-g-undecylenic acid, when they react with PA in melt.