Abstract
Polystyrene (PS) commonly exhibits brittle behavior and poor mechanical properties due to the presence of structural heterogeneities promoting localized failure. The removal of this localized failure is shown here by processing PS into fibers with a range of diameters using electrospinning. Mechanical properties of individual electrospun fibers were quantified with atomic force microscopy based nanomechanical tensile testing. The resultant stress–strain behavior of PS fibers highlights considerable enhancement of mechanical properties when fiber diameter decreases below 600 nm such that polystyrene toughness increases significantly by over two orders of magnitude compared to the bulk. Consideration of the network properties of polystyrene is used to demonstrate the increase of draw ratio toward a theoretical limit and is potentially applicable to a range of glassy polymeric materials. image
Highlights
Polystyrene (PS) is a conventional synthetic polymer that exhibits relatively high stiffness and hardness at low cost
The elastic moduli of electrospun PS fibers with various diameters were assessed from the Atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever deflection
A small regime of initial linear deformation is followed by nonlinear behavior, indicating PS fiber becomes ductile compared to the brittle response of their bulk equivalent
Summary
Polystyrene (PS) is a conventional synthetic polymer that exhibits relatively high stiffness and hardness at low cost. The concept of a critical dimension where localized failure due to heterogeneities in glassy polymers is absent has been proposed previously, and the critical dimension for tensile strain property of PS films has been examined as around 1 μm.[1] Methods to process PS with at least one dimension that is below the critical dimension concept are becoming more popular. Electrospinning is one such technique that is effective for producing fibers with diameters approaching the nanoscale.[3] The properties of. The elastic measurement derived from more conventional three-point bending testing of AFM instrument is examined
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