Isothermal crystallization, melting behavior and crystalline morphology of syndiotactic polystyrene blends with highly-impact polystyrene

Syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) blends with highly-impact polystyrene (HIPS) were prepared with a twin-screw extruder. Isothermal crystallization, melting behavior and crystalline morphology of sPS in sPS/HIPS blends were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and polarized optical microscopy (POM). Experimental results indicated that the isothermal crystallization behavior of sPS in its blends not only depended on the melting temperature and crystallization temperature, but also on the HIPS content. Addition of HIPS restricted the crystallization of sPS melted at 320 °C. For sPS melted at 280 °C, addition of low HIPS content (10 wt% and 30 wt%) facilitated the crystallization of sPS and the formation of more content of α-crystal. However, addition of high HIPS content (50 wt% and 70 wt%) restricted the crystallization of sPS and facilitated the formation of β-crystal. More content of β-crystal was formed with increase of the melting and crystallization temperature. However, α-crystal could be obtained at low crystallization temperature for the specimens melted at high temperature. Addition of high HIPS content resulted in the formation of sPS spherulites with less perfection.