The Brittleness of Ebonite
Abstract The results of tests of the brittleness of ebonite are described. Resilience is influenced chiefly by the moment of inertia of the cross section of the test-specimen, but it seems also to be affected by the form of the specimen. The state of vulcanization has considerable influence on these mechanical properties within the undercured range, but with thorough vulcanization the state of cure plays no appreciable part. Notching of test-specimens is not of great importance. It diminishes the resilience, but when the tests are compared on a basis of equal moments of inertia of the resistant cross sections, this diminution becomes inappreciable in the case of brittle ebonites. On the other hand, the shape of the notch in ebonites containing no loading ingredients does influence the resilience. With V-shaped notches, the depth of the notch and its angle of aperture influence considerably the resilience of this latter type of ebonite, and notches of minimum depth are sufficient to have an appreciable effect.