High Impact
Polystyrene (HIPS) is a composite material that consists of a polystyrene
phase and a dispersed polybutadiene (PB) phase (Grause
et al., 2010). It is produced by the free-radical polymerisation of
styrene in the presence of polybutadiene (PB) to improve the
impact strength and toughness of glassy polystyrene (PS). The
properties of the produced composite material mainly depend on
the percentage of the butadiene in the initial polymer, which varies
between 3 and 10 mol%. It is widely used in electrical and electronic
equipment, in construction and packaging materials and in
storage bottles, appliance parts, housewares, and interior parts in
household electronics (Beigbeder et al., 2013). In one of the few
studies on the HIPS catalytic thermal decomposition, it is reported
that there was a marked increase in yield of gas with the introduction
of nickel catalysts