Recovery of thick shear bands in atactic polystyrene

The DSC thermograms of the shear band material cut out by a diamond saw to include some undeformed material revealed two T_g's clearly separated by about 10°C. The first T_g was at the same temperature as the T_g of the undeformed material. The second T_g, which was at a higher temperature than the first T_g, appeared shortly after the shear strain recovery during the heating of the shear band material in the DSC. When the shear strain in the shear band was partially reversed by mechanical means before taking the DSC thermogram, the ΔT between the two T_g's decreased and when the shear strain was mechanically reversed to almost zero, the second T_g disappeared. The stored energy of shear band material was found to be similar to that of the bulk compressed material for large strains. Dimensional recovery during heating of specimens with thick and fine bands was similar, both taking place above T_g.