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Morphology‐Properties relationship of a ternary polymer alloy
Author(s) -
Kojima Takayuki,
Kikuchi Yutaka,
Inoue Takashi
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.760322409
Subject(s) - materials science , composite material , natural rubber , alloy , ternary operation , deformation (meteorology) , thermoplastic , polymer , computer science , programming language
A ternary alloy of polyamide‐6 (PA), poly(phenyleneether) (PPE), and rubber has a three‐phase structure, in which PPE particles with rubber inclusions are dispersed in a PA matrix. This is an excellent thermoplastic with high impact strength and high heat resistance. To understand the morphology‐properties relationship, we undertook a two‐dimensional finite element method (FEM) analysis on the deformation mechanism of the ternary alloy. A three‐phase model was constructed so that five hybrid particles of PPE‐shell and rubber‐core were embedded in the PA matrix. When the model was deformed at room temperature, the rubber domain induced yielding of the PPE‐shell and the PA‐matrix and at large strains the yielded zone expanded to pervade the whole space. This suggests that the toughening mechanism is essentially the same as in the binary alloy of PA and rubber (rubber‐toughened PA). At higher temperatures (e.g., at 100°C) the stress concentration occurred not only in the PA matrix but also in the PPE‐shell. It implies that the PPE‐shell is highly responsible for bulk deformation, even though it is part of the dispersed phase. At high temperatures, the rigidity of PPE affects the alloy bulk rigidity so that the ternary system exhibits high heat resistance.