ABSTRACT
Most plastics are susceptible to brittle fracture. Although energy-absorbing processes, such as crazing or shear yielding, operate in these plastics, they do so only in highly localized areas around the crack tip. In order to increase the toughness, energy-dissipating mechanisms must occur over a large volume of the plastic. And they must simultaneously limit the growth and breakdown of voids and cracks to prevent catastrophic failure of the plastic [1-3].
