Investigating the influence of mixing speed in mechanical physical properties of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene/ Poly Carbonate alloy and simulating laboratory data by artificial neural networks

The rapid growth of science and technology has created a demand for polymers with unique and specialized properties that cannot be met by existing polymers alone. As a solution, the process of alloying, which involves combining two or more polymers, has gained significant importance. Alloying offers several advantages, including the flexibility to choose materials, the ability to design the final product, unique properties and characterizations, as well as cost-effectiveness. Among the various commercial alloys, PS and ABS alloys hold great significance due to their wide range of applications. Particularly, the PC/ABS alloy, which is derived from a blend of PS and ABS polymers, is widely utilized worldwide. This article focuses on the preparation of PC/ABS alloys by mixing different percentages of ABS with varying amounts of PC (0.2, 0.3, and 0.4) with different stirring rates (30, 40, and 50 rpm). The prepared alloys undergo various tests, including assessments of polymer softness, impact strength, melt flow index, tensile strength at the yield point, and polymer hardness. The laboratory data collected from these tests are then subjected to simulations using artificial neural networks. The simulation results align remarkably well with the laboratory data, demonstrating a high level of accuracy. These simulation results can also be utilized to predict properties for untested alloy compositions. The findings reveal that increasing the stirring rate enhances the quality of the product, while increasing the PC content in the alloy leads to improvements in most properties except for the melt flow index, which shows a decrease.