FRACTOGRAPHY OF INJECTION MOLDED POLYCARBONATE ACRYLONITRILE-BUTADIENE-STYRENE TERPOLYMER BLENDS

Fractography has been used in the post-failure analysis of single edge notched specimens of injection molded blends of polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene terpolymer (ABS). The mode of ductile tensile fracture of single edge notched specimens depended on composition. Plane stress shear tearing was observed in the composition range PC/ABS 90/10 to 70/30 by weight where PC was the continuous phase. Intermediate compositions, PC/ABS 60/40 to 40/60, had a co-continuous or almost co-continuous phase morphology; these blends fractured by mixed mode pop-in, where a tunneling center crack relieved the triaxiality and permitted plane stress shear lips to form near the edges. Herring-bone fracture, a plane strain mode characterized by discontinuous crack growth, was observed when ABS was the continuous phase, PC/ABS 30/70 to 10/90. An S-shaped relationship was observed between the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature and the composition. Addition of ABS to PC increased ductility up to PC/ABS 70/30 and 60/40, which were the most ductile compositions. Further addition of ABS decreased the ductility, and the least ductile compositions were PC/ABS 30/70 and 10/90.