polymer melt was extruded into strands cooled cut into pellets and dried at 160 u00b0 c under nitrogen component b was prepared by melt blending an anhydride functionalized epdm toughener fusabond u00ae n mf521 d available from e i du pont de nemours amp co inc wilmington del with polyamide 6 12 zytel u00ae 158 nc010 also available commercially from e i dupont de nemours amp co and the thermal and oxidative stabilizers chimassorb 944f irgafos 168 irganox 1098 and tinuvin 234 all available from ciba specialty chemicals tarrytown n y polyamide 6 12 59 2 kg chimassorb 944f 1287 g irgafos 168 1693 9 g irganox 1098 1693 9 g and tinuvin 234 2096 4 g were well mixed as dry ingredients by tumbling them together in a drum this blend was introduced to the rear barrel of a ten barrel 57 mm werner amp pfleiderer twin screw extruder at a rate of 65 48 lb hr using a loss in weight feeder the anhydride functionalized epdm toughener was also added to the rear barrel at a rate of 25 27 lb hr using an additional loss in weight feeder polyamide 6 12 was also introduced to the sixth barrel from the rear of the extruder at a rate of 58 8 lb hr using a loss in weight feeder and a side feeder the extruder was operated at a screw rpm of 250 and vacuum of about 0 47 0 51 bar was applied at barrel 9 the barrel temperatures were set at about 240 u00b0 c and a die temperature was set at.