Advanced Routes for Polymer Toughening

This volume is an account of the various approaches used to improve the toughness of polymer matrices. The correlations among the molecular structure of the components, the morphology and the mechanical properties of blend systems are stressed. Emphasis is placed on the methods used to control the structure of these materials during processing. The book concentrates on a number of systems which may be regarded as typologies of toughened plastics. From an extensive treatment of these systems more general concepts have been developed. These concepts which are indispensable in the design and formulation of tough polymer blends, include the role of the interface in multicomponent systems, the chemical reactivity of the blend components, the mode and state of dispersion of the second phase, the crystallinity and crystallization conditions, the glass transition temperature etc. The long term activity in the area is mainly reported, which started in the early seventies with the chemical modification of ethylene-propylene copolymers to be used as tougheners of Polyamide-6. Such a system is investigated further both from a fundamental and from an applicative point of view. The volume shows how intellectually stimulating and challenging the field of polymer toughening can be, and is intended to encourage the reader to do more research in this area.