Atactic polystyrene mechanical behavior

Styrene decreases the viscosity of SPS significantly relative to atactic polystyrene and offsets that effect. From a practical standpoint, the dynamic mechanical behavior of SPS reveals that SPS softens appreciably at its glass transition temperature, thus to maintain mechanical strength up to the melting point, the polymer needs to be reinforced. 

To illustrate the effect of temperature on mechanical properties, it is sometimes preferable to plot the property vs. temperature for constant values of time. For example, data of the type shown in Fig. 18.21 may be cross-plotted as (10) (the 10-second relaxation modulus) vs. T, Such a plot is given in Fig. 18.23 for several polystyrene samples," The five regions of viscoelastic behavior are evident in the linear, amorphous (atactic) samples (A) and (C) along with the effect of molecular weight in the flow region. The drop in modulus in the vicinity of Tg (100°C) is dearly seen. The crystalline (isotactic) sample maintains a fairly high modulus all the way up to (a 235 "C). Given values of one can convert data in the form vs, t at constant T (a master curve) to vs. T at constant t and vice versa. 

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