Structure and impact properties of a thermoplastic elastomer/silly putty blend

Abstract The structure and impact properties of a thermoplastic elastomer/silly putty blend are explored. The impact‐resistant materials are made with polyolefin‐based thermoplastic elastomer HYBRAR™ 5127 and silly putty DOWSIL™ 3179. The peak impact force decreases with the content of silly putty, as part of the impact energy might be dissipated by the dissociation of boron–oxygen dynamic dative bonds in silly putty. It is also observed that the crack behavior of samples under impact is related to the phase structure of silly putty in the samples. For the samples with high content of silly putty, a macroscopic crack is observed for these samples under impact, as a crack can spread in the continuous phase structure of silly putty. Different energy dissipation ratios in rheological, compression and impact experiments are also observed. It is concluded that the results of linear dynamic oscillatory shear and compression at a low strain rate cannot give a direct predication of energy dissipation ratios of samples under impact at a high strain rate. © 2021 Society of Industrial Chemistry.