DEFORMATION OF RUBBER-TOUGHENED POLYCARBONATE - MACROSCALE ANALYSIS OF THE DAMAGE ZONE

Two commercial core-shell rubbers were used as impact modifiers for polycarbonate (PC). Specimens with a single semicircular edge notch were stretched uniaxially in order to study the prefracture damage evolution of blends under a triaxial tensile stress state. The irreversible deformation of modified PC included a cavitation mechanism in addition to the three shear modes of unmodified PC. At the macroscopic level, the cavitation condition could be described by a mean stress concept. The corresponding critical volume strain for cavitation in PC blends was determined to be independent of rubber content but differed for the two impact modifiers. The critical volume strain for cavitation was used as an index of cavitation resistance for the impact modifiers. The effect of rubber content and temperature on Izod impact strength of the PC blends was also reported. From the relationship between the cavitation resistance and the Izod impact strength, it was proposed that impact modifiers with a higher cavitation resistance impart better toughness to blends with PC. (C) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.