Abstract
The fracture toughening behavior of polystyrene/high density polyethylene blends compatibilized by 10 wt % of a styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene triblock copolymer (SEBS) was assessed using single-edge notched tension (SENT) and double-edge notched tension (DENT) specimens of various gauge lengths over a wide range of tensile rates. The fracture of DENT and SENT specimens was completely ductile under the plane-stress condition. A linear relationship was observed between the specific total work of fracture and the ligament length (L) for a given L range. The results showed that the essential work (w e ) was independent of the tensile rate (R) range of 1-30 mm/min, and it then decreased considerably when R was increased to 50 mm/min and above. However, the nonessential work exhibited a rate independent trend behavior. In addition, w e and the specific nonessential work of fracture (βw p ) were basically independent of the gauge length (G), provided that G was greater than the width of the sample. Finally, it was also shown that the w e and βw p values for SENT specimens are obviously greater than those for DENT specimens.
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