The role of the scale factor in the structure-related mechanical behavior of glassy polymers

Abstract

Literature data on the effect of the scale factor on the structure and properties of polymers have been analyzed. Two modes of the scale factor have been revealed. The first mode is related to the sizes of a polymer phase. This factor manifests itself when the polymer phase sizes become comparable with the sizes of a macromolecular coil. The second mode is directly associated with the sizes of a polymer sample and becomes detectable when investigating bulky polymer samples. The scale factor has been shown to substantially affect the structure-related mechanical behavior of loaded polymers, in particular, the stress–strain curves characterizing glassy polymers.