Toughened plastics consisting of brittle particles and ductile matrix

Abstract

Abstract Studies on plastic alloys consisting of particles of brittle polymers dispersed in the matrices of ductile polymers were undertaken using the miniature polymer evaluation system (CSI Mini‐Max System). For the polycarbonate/poly(acrylonitrileco‐styrene) system, which had been found to show improved impact strength by Kurauchi, et al. using the conventional methods of molding and mechanical testing, it was verified that the miniature evaluation system gave the same results as those from the conventional methods. Ten other different combinations of ductile and brittle polymers were evaluated by using the miniature evaluation system. Among them the polycarbonate/poly(methyl methacrylate) system is found to be a toughened alloy. From these results, the requirements for the development of toughening in the ductile/brittle systems are discussed.