The micromechanical deformation behavior of transparent rubber-toughened poly(methylmethacrylate) (RTPMMA) was investigated by electron microscopy. With increasing volume fraction of particles (from 4 vol% to 35 vol%) RTPMMA showed a transition of deformation mode from brittle to ductile. In both cases the particles deform through fibrillized cavitation processes. The dominant toughening mechanism in the specimen containing 4 vol% particles was multiple crazing triggered by fibrillized cavitated particles, whereas in the specimen with 35 vol% particles the specimen deformed by shear flow of matrix material between the fibrillized particles. From the results of an in situ deformation test in high-voltage electron microscopy it can be deduced that interparticle distance plays decisive role on the transition of deformation mode.
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Laatsch et al. (1998) studied this question.
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