| Abstract: | The fracture toughness of a filled nitrile rubber/phenolic polymeric system was assessed by means of ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) as measured by the Charpy impact method to search for sampling location dependencies of toughness in structures. This investigation established the relationship between the Charpy DBTT and exposure to selected relative humidity (RH) for the filled polymer from the three lots. Charpy fracture tests of specimens subjected to a low RH environment (15 percent) had higher DBTTs than their counterparts exposed to a high RH condition (70 to 75 percent). Charpy specimens of this material exhibited a 9 to 22°F change in DBTT which depended upon the manufacturer and the conditioning period for a corresponding change of 60 percent RH. The change in DBTT with relative humidity was found to be reversible; initial fracture behavior could be restored to samples from the low RH (15 percent) station by equilibrating at a high RH (75 percent) level. |
