ABSTRACT
New mechanical and small angle neutron scattering data on deformed glassy polymers are consistent with the existence and propagation of Somigliana dislocations in polymeric glasses. A yielding theory is framed in order to account for the observed mechanical parameters (the temperature slope of yield stress, and the corresponding activation volume) in terms of molecular ingredients like the entanglements and the chain stiffness which control the dislocation propagation.
