Direct grafting of polystyrene onto polyethylene has been carried out in a twin screw extruder with an organic peroxide and a crosslinking co-agent.

    The reaction extruded blends exhibited enhancement in impact properties at an optimum level of peroxide and co-agent. Further improvement was achieved by introducing styrene monomer into the system during reactive extrusion. The structure and morphology of the blends were studied using differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and size exclusion chromatography.