Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene crazes

Craze formation is a dominant mechanism in the toughening of glassy polymers by elastomers in polyblends. Examples are high-impact polystyrene (HIPS), impact poly(vinyl chloride), and ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) polymers. Polystyrene and styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) copolymers fracture at strains of 10 , whereas rubber-modified grades of these polymers (e.g., HIPS and ABS) form many crazes before breaking at strains around 0.5. Rubbery particles in... 

Styrene-acrylonitrile copolymers are produced commercially for use as structural plastics. The typical acrylonitrile content in such resins is between 20-30%. These materials have better solvent and oil resistance than polystyrene and a higher softening point. In addition, they exhibit better resistance to cracking and crazing and an enhanced impact strength. Although the acrylonitrile copolymers have enhanced properties over polystyrene, they are still inadequate for many applications. Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene polymers, known as ABS resins, were therefore developed. 

Sonic Modulus. If crack or craze branching is the operative mech-nism in toughening, toughness should be directly related to the difference in sonic speeds in matrix and dispersed phases. Experiments to confirm this effect were undertaken using three commercial ABS resins. These were selected to represent the three main rubber types encountered commercially an acrylonitrile/butadiene copolymer rubber, a butadiene rubber with grafted styrene/acrylonitrile copolymer, and a block polymer of... 

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