Process for the manufacturing of ABS-molding compositions

1. A process for preparing a thermoplastic polymer composition or a thermoplastic polymer blend, comprising:

A) from 20 to 80% by weight of at least one water-moist elastomer component A containing up to 40% by weight of residual water

B) from 20 to 80% by weight of at least one thermoplastic polymer B,

C) from 0 to 40% by weight of at least one further polymer C, and

D) from 0 to 60% by weight of at least one additive D,

by mixing the elastomer component A with the thermoplastic polymer B and, if present, the further polymer C and, if present, the at least one additive D in an extruder, comprising the steps of:

a) precipitating the elastomer component A, separately or together with parts of one or several other components, in an aqueous precipitation step (I), wherein the aqueous composition used for precipitation contains less than 5.0% by weight, relating to the weight of the dry elastomer component A, of a salt,

b) mechanical dewatering of the elastomer component A in one or more dewatering steps (V),

wherein the components A, B and, if present, C and D are fed into an extruder, which has at least two screws rotating in the same direction or in opposite directions and having a screw diameter Ds, and, in the conveying direction, the extruder is essentially composed of:

at least one metering section MS into which elastomer component A is fed to the extruder by a metering device,

at least one squeeze section SS which serves for dewatering the elastomer component A and contains at least a first retarding element and at least one dewatering orifice which is present upstream of the first retarding element,

at least one feed section FS in which the thermoplastic polymer B is introduced as a melt into the extruder,

at least one plastication section PS provided with mixing or kneading elements,

at least one last devolatilization section VS which is provided with at least one devolatilization orifice and in which the remaining water is removed as steam, and

a discharge zone ZZ, wherein the components C and/or D, if present, are fed to the extruder together or separately from one another

wherein the aqueous precipitation step (I) is directly or indirectly followed by a sintering step (II),

wherein the precipitated component A is agglomerated to a larger particle size, characterized by using a temperature from 100° to 125° C.

and wherein the elastomer component A is washed, directly or indirectly after the sintering step (II), with an amount of water which corresponds to 10 to 50% by weight of water, relating to the dry weight of the elastomer component A.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the elastomer component A is precipitated, separately from the other components, in an aqueous precipitation step (I), using an aqueous precipitation composition containing less than 3.5% by weight of a salt, relating to the dry weight of the elastomer component A.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the sintering step (II) is characterized by using a temperature from 100° to 115° C.

4. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the sintering step (II) is effectuated at a pressure above atmospheric pressure.

5. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the salt used for the precipitation step (I) is chosen from the group consisting of anhydrous magnesium sulfate, magnesium sulfate with crystal water, anhydrous aluminum sulfate, aluminum sulfate with crystal water, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, magnesium hydroxide, and a bi-valent salt or a tri-valent salt of sulphuric acid, and combinations thereof.

6. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein sulphuric acid is used for the precipitation step (I).

7. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the precipitation step (I) comprises more than one subsequent steps, which differ in at least one of the parameters chosen from the group consisting of: salt used for the precipitation, amount of salt and/or acid used for the precipitation, pH-value, temperature, concentration of salt and/or acid used for the precipitation, residence time, vessel size, pressure, stirrer speed, and stirrer type.

8. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least a part of the water emerging from the dewatering orifices is present in the liquid phase.

9. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the screw elements of the extruder have a flight depth ratio DS ,external /DS internal of from 1.2 to 1.8 and contain 3-flight and 2-flight high volume elements.