Research on thermoplastic elastomers by nano-mechanical properties mapping

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs)are the future-promising elastomeric materials. They have rubber elasticity and at the same time have melt processability such as injection molding. Thus, they offer the rationalization of molding processes and recyclability of processed products, which contribute the today's needs such as energy saving and environmental protection. The purpose of this study is the understanding of industry-processed TPEs in terms of structural and mechanical-properties' evaluations, where the basic research on TPEs will be bridged to R & D stage of practical TPE products. The key to realize this purpose is the evaluation of TPEs' mechanical properties at nano-scale. Nano-mechanical mapping based on atomic force microscopy was employed to perform the actual experiments. It was confirmed that the TPEs experienced the high-shear process showed totally different mechanical properties and that this difference was attributed to the different nano-scale morphology.