Effects of rubber content and temperature on ductile tearing stability in ABS materials

The material can fail by tearing instability when the elastic contraction i s greater than the plastic extension due to crack growth. Tearing instabili ty (TIS) theory developed by Paris and co-workers is applied to describe th e effects of rubber content and temperature on the stability of ductile cra ck growth in ABS materials under impact test conditions. The increase in sl ope of the J-Delta a(delta-Delta a) curve, dJ/d(Delta a) (d delta/d(Delta a )), tearing modulus, T(T-j or T-delta) and JT(J) with increasing rubber con centration indicates that higher rubber content is beneficial in maintainin g crack growth stability, dJ/d(Delta a), T-j and JT(j) increase with increa sing temperature until a certain temperature. After that they decrease with further increasing temperature. This is due to the embrittlement of SAN ma trix close to its glass transition temperature.