ISSN:
1573-4803
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
Notes:
Abstract To disclose the interior phase structure of soft polymeric materials, a classical procedure exploits the hardening of a material on freezing, usually, in liquid nitrogen. However, there exist some polymer systems, for which the application of the procedure is not suitable due to low differences in the toughness of the individual components in the frozen state. A new procedure of the fracture surface preparation is described, based on a specific property of polymer materials, namely up to a three-decade difference in the Young modulus below and above the glass transition temperature. According the the procedure, the fracture surface is prepared at a temperature at which the matrix is soft (sufficiently high above the glass transition temperature) and the inclusions are hard (below the glass transition temperature) at the same time. Especially at a low volume fraction of the hard dispersed phase a relatively smooth and distinct fracture surface is obtained, the interpretation of which presents no problems. The method has been successfully tested for several systems, such as, silicon rubber/hard methacrylate copolymer, EPDM rubber/inorganic filler, EPDM rubber/polypropylene, liquid rubber/epoxy, and ABS/ inorganic filler.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00581122
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