Statistics of extreme values applied to the brittle fracture of poly(methyl methacrylate) containing polytetrafluoroethylene particles

Abstract

Poly(methyl methacrylate) tensile bars were prepared containing nearly spherical polytetrafluoroethylene particles in concentrations from one to a thousand particles per gauge length of the bars. Particle diameters varied from 0.0035 to 0.018 in. Exhaustive tensile tests were performed at sufficiently high strain rate to assure brittle fracture and the results analyzed statistically by the theory of extreme values as proposed by Epstein. The results suggested that the polytetrafluoroethylene particles themselves did not act as flaws, but that they intensified the stress field on natural flaws which acted as the origin of fracture. Assuming a Laplace distribution as the underlying distribution of tensile strength (not to be confused with observed distribution of tensile strengths) gave predicted fracture statistics in good agreement with experiment.

Molecular aspects of high polymer fracture as investigated by ESR-technique

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