ABSTRACT
High-specific-strength and -modulus, cost-effective fabrication and multifunctional characteristics have made high-performance polymers the materials of choice for engineering, defense, electronics, and medical applications. Most engineering polymers can be improved on either their mechanical strength or their impact toughness, or both. For those thermoplastics that exhibit notch sensitivity and brittle behavior under impact conditions, a compliant heterogeneity phase or particles have been introduced into the matrices since 1940s.
