Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.52, No.2, 121-133, 1994
Crazing Phenomena in PC/San Microlayer Composites
The crazing behavior of coextruded microlayer sheets consisting of alternating layers of polycarbonate (PC) and styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN) was investigated as a function of PC and SAN layer thicknesses. In this study, the total sheet thickness remained essentially constant and the PC and SAN layer thicknesses were changed by varying both the total number of layers from 49 to 1857 and the PC/SAN volume ratio. Photographs of the deformation processes were obtained when microspecimens were deformed under an optical microscope. Three different types of crazing behavior were identified : single crazes randomly distributed in the SAN layers, doublets consisting of two aligned crazes in neighboring SAN layers, and craze arrays with many aligned crazes in neighboring SAN layers. The transition from single crazes to doublets was observed when the PC layer thickness was decreased to 6 microns. Craze array development was prevalent in composites with PC layer thickness less than 1.3 microns. It was concluded that SAN layer thickness was not a factor in formation of arrays and doublets; formation of craze doublets and craze arrays was dependent only upon PC layer thickness.
Keywords:POLY(STYRENE-ACRYLONITRILE);POLYCARBONATE