Suppression of Crazing in Polystyrene Crosslinked with a Multifunctional Zirconium Oxo Cluster Observed In Situ during Tensile Tests

Abstract

The structural development of polystyrene, which was crosslinked with varying amounts of the multifunctional cluster Zr6O4(OH)4(methacrylate)12, was followed in situ by small‐angle X‐ray scattering at a synchrotron radiation source. It was observed that crazing strongly diminishes with increasing cluster proportion and disappears nearly completely for the material with the highest cluster proportion of 0.87 mol‐%. Accordingly, the maximum stress before failure is strongly enhanced, whereas the maximum strain decreases.magnified image