The significance of the rubber damping peak in rubber‐modified polymers

Dynamic mechanical properties have been used as the basis for some important conclusions with regards to the physical properties of rubber‐modified high‐impact polymers. This paper attempts to show that conclusions of this type should be limited to fairly narrow groupings of polymers. Since the size, shape, and position on the temperature scale of a damping peak are influenced by composition, morphology, and method of polymer preparation, the significance of the damping peak associated with the rubber phase of the polymer has probably been generalized to too great an extent. Two examples of polymer groupings are given to illustrate the need for caution in attaching significance to the dynamic mechanical properties of polymers. Also given are two fairly narrow polymer groupings to show to what extent dynamic mechanical properties can be used for a correlation with impact strength and rubber concentration.