Sulfur vulcanization a substantial fraction of natural and synthetic rubber. Reclaimed rubber has altered properties and is unsuitable for use in many products, including tires. Tires and other vulcanized products are potentially amenable to devulcanization, but this technology has not produced material that can supplant unvulcanized materials. The main problem is that the carbon-sulfur linkages are not readily broken, without the input of costly reagents and heat. Thus, more than half of scrap rubber is simply burned for fuel. Although polymeric sulfur is unstable and decomposes back to its monomer, it is possible to create stable polymers consisting mostly of sulfur via
Rubber toughening crazing, rubber toughening particles will act as craze initiators. When it fails by shear yielding, the rubber particles will initiate shear bands. It is also possible to having multiple mechanisms come into play if the polymer is prone to failing by multiple stresses equally. Polystyrene and styrene-acrylonitrile are brittle materials that are prone to craze failure while polycarbonate, polyamides, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are prone to shear yield failure. Amorphous plastics are used below their glass transition temperature (formula_7). They are brittle and notch sensitive but creep resistant. Molecules are immobile and the plastic responds to rapidly applied stress by