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Fracture behavior of boehmite‐filled polypropylene block copolymer nanocomposites as assessed by the essential work of fracture concept
Author(s) -
Turcsán Tamás,
Mészáros László,
Khumalo Vincent Mandla,
Thomann Ralf,
KargerKocsis József
Publication year - 2014
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.40447
Subject(s) - materials science , boehmite , composite material , nanocomposite , polypropylene , ultimate tensile strength , fracture toughness , necking , copolymer , toughness , fracture (geology) , polymer , aluminium
The essential work of fracture (EWF) method was adapted to determine the fracture toughness of poly(propylene‐block‐ethylene) (EPBC) based nanocomposites with different amounts (from 0 up to 5 wt %) of synthetic boehmite alumina (BA). The dispersion of BA in the matrix was studied by transmission and scanning electron microscopies. Agglomerated micronscale along with well dispersed nanoscale BA particles were present in the EPBC matrix. By contrast to the neat EPBC, all nanocomposites failed by unstable necking. Therefore the energy partitioning concept of the EWF was adapted and attention paid to the yielding‐related term. Both specific yielding‐related essential and nonessential work of fracture parameters increased linearly with the product of the yield stress and elongation at yield derived from static tensile tests. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131 , 40447.