An entanglement model for the dependence of fracture surface energy on molecular weight

Abstract

AbstractOver the last decade, empirical evidence has indicated that the effective surface energy γ associated with the fracture of noncrystalline is a linear function of the reciprocal of the viscosity–average molecular weight: \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ \gamma = \gamma _\infty - b\bar M_v ^{ - 1} $\end{document}. For poly(methyl methacrylate), data of J. P. Berry, G. C. Berry and Fox show that gamma; ∼ 0 at about the same value of M̄v that corresponds to the polymer chain‐entanglement length. From this fact, we have developed an entanglement network model for fracture, that bears a resemblance to F. Bueche's entanglement model for the melt viscosity of bulk polymers. Our model allows for the expression of the previously empirical constants, γ∞ and b, in terms of molecular parameters: \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ {{\gamma _\infty = \gamma _{\rm s} A_{\rm s} Z_{\rm c} \rho _{\rm c} N_A } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\gamma _\infty = \gamma _{\rm s} A_{\rm s} Z_{\rm c} \rho _{\rm c} N_A } {\bar M_{\rm s} }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {\bar M_{\rm s} }} $\end{document} and \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ b = 2({{\bar M_v } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\bar M_v } {\bar M_n }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {\bar M_n }})\gamma _\infty M_{\rm f} $\end{document} where M̄n and M̄f are the number‐average molecular weights of the polymer and of the free chain ends, M̄v is the viscosity‐average molecular weight, γs is the average fracture‐energy per entanglement in the craze volume, As is the average cross‐sectional area of the polymer chain, Zc and ρc are the thickness and density of crazed material on the fracture surface, respectively; M̄s is the average strand molecular weight between entanglements, and NA is AvogadrO's number.