Mechanical and rheological behaviour of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene/polyolefin elastomers composites:...

Polymer composites hold great promise due to their excellent properties, yet their compatibility and strength in real-world applications remain critical challenges. This study focuses on the development and optimization of a polymer composite based on acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polyolefin elastomer (POE). In order to characterize and optimize ABS/POE polymer composites, Design-Expert software with the D-optimal mixture design (DMD) method was used. The selected independent factors were the weight percentages of ABS and POE. Five selected dependent factors were tensile strength (TS), percentage elongation at break (%EB), elastic modulus, hardness and melt flow index (MFI). The experimental data obtained from the different composite formulations were statistically analyzed. ANOVA results confirmed the significance of the models (p < 0.0001) for all responses, with R² values above 0.96. Formulation with 90% ABS and 10% POE was selected as optimized polymer composite. This formulation exhibited a TS of 26.7 MPa, EB of 21.35%, elastic modulus of 1296 MPa, hardness of 72.12 Shore D and MFI of 1.39 g/min. The experimental results matched the predicted values closely, with errors below 7.2%. The findings indicate that the Design-Expert software effectively identifies the optimal balance between strength and flexibility in the polymer composite. Such enhancements can contribute to the development of high-performance composites with superior strength, flexibility, and durability, rendering them highly suitable for a broad spectrum of engineering, automotive, and other commercial applications.