Swelling molecular entanglement networks in polymer glasses

Entanglements in a polymer network are like knots between the polymer chains, and they are at the root of many phenomena observed in polymer systems. When a polymer glass is strained, cracklike deformations called crazes may be formed and the study of these regions can reveal much about the nature of entanglements. We have studied crazes in systems that are blends of long polymer chains diluted with chains of various small molecular weights. …