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Measurements of craze velocities in polystyrene‐polybutadiene blends
Author(s) -
Spiegelberg Stephen H.,
Argon Ali S.,
Cohen Robert E.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1993.070480109
Subject(s) - polybutadiene , polystyrene , materials science , composite material , crazing , phase (matter) , plasticizer , diluent , polymer chemistry , stress (linguistics) , toughness , polymer , copolymer , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , organic chemistry , linguistics , philosophy
Normally brittle polystyrene (PS) can be toughened effectively by the inclusion of a few weight percent of low molecular weight polybutadiene (PB). The PB, which can be made to phase separate into submicron sized, randomly dispersed pools, locally plasticizes the glassy phase in the vicinity of a growing craze; the resulting reduction in craze flow stress and increased craze velocity lead to significant enhancement of toughness when strain rates are below approximately 10 −1 s −1 . Craze velocities were measured in PS containing 1 to 5 wt % of a low molecular weight PB (2300 g/mol). The results were compared to a version of the interface convolution mechanism for craze growth that has been modified to account for the localized plasticization effect of the low molecular weight diluent. Addition of 5 wt % PB led to craze velocities that are three orders of magnitude larger than observed for pure PS. The model deviated significantly from the experimental data at the higher and of the PB concentration range studied here, but it did exhibit the general form of the observed dependence of craze velocity on PB content. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.