| Abstract: | The environmental stress crazing and cracking (ESC) behavior of an aromatic polyetherimide (PEI) has been characterized in a wide spectrum of organic liquids and compared to the behavior of several other glassy thermoplastics. PEI's response is qualitatively similar to that of the other resins for each of which ESC resistance reaches a minimum in solvents having solubility parameters close to that of the resin. Taken as a whole, the ESC resistance of PEI is found to be quantitatively superior to that of any other glassy resin for which similar data are available for comparison. |
