Stress‐strain behavior of styrene‐acrylonitrile/glass bead composites in the glassy region

The effects of temperature, strain rate and filler content on tensile properties of SAN/glass bead composites are studied. A point of discontinuity on the stress‐strain curves for unannealed composites is investigated, annealing results in smooth curves with no discontinuities. A simple model for the filler effect on yield stress is suggested and shown to be in a good agreement with experimental data. A double shifting procedure to account for the temperature and filler effects on yield stress as a function of strain rate is proposed. A single master curve that can be represented by the equation:\documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$$ \frac{{\sigma yc}}{{{\rm 1 - 1}{\rm .21}\phi ^{{\rm 2/3}} }} = A + B\,{\rm ln (}\dot \epsilon a_T) $$\end{document} relates composite yield stress to strain rate, temperature and filler volume fraction.