Heterogeneous behavior of the elastically deformed polymer glasses by scanning force microscopy

Abstract

Under a small strain, the deformation and relaxation of an amorphous glassy polymers is usually presumed to be intrinsically homogeneous. In defining this homogeneity, however, the minimum scale is implicitly assumed to be comparable to the average distance between the load-bearing chain. By the same token, in the brittle polymers where strain localization of crazing can develop under elongation, the regions outside the crazes are generally expected to follow a homogeneous mechanical behavior. The authors have used the scanning force microscopy (SFM) to examine the topography of the deformed polystyrene (PS) glasses.