INTERPARTICLE DISTANCE-TEMPERATURE-STRAIN RATE EQUIVALENCE FOR THE BRITTLE-TOUGH TRANSITION IN POLYMER BLENDS

From the angle of energy transformation an equation was obtained for t he brittle transition in polymer blends. The effects of interparticle distance, temperature and strain rate on the brittle-tough transition in polymer blends were characterized by this equation. The calculation s show that, for this transition: (1) increasing temperature and decre asing interparticle distance are equivalent and the shift factor incre ases with increasing temperature; (2) decreasing strain rate and decre asing interparticle distance have equivalent effects on the transition ; (3) the strain rate must be optimum in order to find the brittle-tou gh transition phenomena for a given temperature region. (C) 1998 Publi shed by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.