Anomalous penetrant transport in glassy polymers—VIII. Solvent-induced cracking in polystyrene

✍ Scribed by Nikolaos A. Peppas; Kent G. Urdahl

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 954 KB
• Volume: 24
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-3057
• DOI: 10.1016/0014-3057(88)90119-x

✦ Synopsis

Crack formation in. divinyl benzene (DVB)-crosslinked polystyrene samples swollen by cyclohexane was followed as a function of time, temperature, degree of crosslinking and initial sample thickness. In the range of crosslinking ratios between 5.2 and 25.8 x 10 3 mol DVB/mol styrene, highly crosslinked samples crazed at a lower rate. The penetrant front velocity and front position were also determined. From an analysis of the data, it was concluded that relaxation-controlled (anomalous) transport of cyclohexane was responsible for the observed solvent-induced failure of the polystyrene.