'Soft crosslinking' strategy makes brittle, glassy plastics tougher
Glassy polymers are those whose chains become immobilized below their glass transition temperature. The immobilized chains make them hard and stiff but also brittle, causing them to fracture when stretched. One promising strategy for overcoming this trade-off is to incorporate ionic groups whose rev...
Image: Phys.org
Glassy polymers are those whose chains become immobilized below their glass transition temperature. The immobilized chains make them hard and stiff but also brittle, causing them to fracture when stretched. One promising strategy for overcoming this trade-off is to incorporate ionic groups whose reversible electrostatic attractions form physical crosslinks that improve toughness while maintaining stiffness.
Originally published at Phys.org
