Amorphous stress-strain curve

Figure 9.3. Stress-strain curves for (a) rigid amorphous plastics material showing brittle fracture and (b) rubbery polymer. The area under the curve gives a measure of the energy required to break the...

Below T, most amorphous polymers show a more or less linear stress-strain curve with no yield point (Fig. 18.8)... 

Fig. 18.8 Typical stress-strain curve of amorphous thermoplastics below their glass transition temperature. Area under the curve is small compared with many crystalline plastics and hence the impact strength is usually low...

Crazing. This develops in such amorphous plastics as acrylics, PVCs, PS, and PCs as creep deformation enters the rupture phase. Crazes start sooner under high stress levels. Crazing occurs in crystalline plastics, but in those its onset is not readily visible. It also occurs in most fiber-reinforced plastics, at the time-dependent knee in the stress-strain curve. 

Although PBT fiber also has a plateau region in the stress-strain curve [4], the crystalline chains do not respond to external strain in the first few percent of deformation. They increased in length only when the strain is above 4% (see Figure 11.13). Therefore, initial macroscopic deformation involved viscous flow of the amorphous phase. Furthermore, PBT undergoes strain-induced crystal transformation at moderately low strains of 15-20% [75], The differences in their microscopic crystalline chain deformation explained why PTT has a better elastic recovery than PBT even though both have contracted chains and knees in their stress-strain curves [4, 69],... 

Mechanical Properties. The room temperature modulus and tensile strength are similar to those of other amorphous thermoplastics, but the impact strength and ductility are unusually high. Whereas most amorphous polymers arc glass-like and brittle below their glass-transition temperatures, polycarbonate remains ductile to about — 10°C. The stress-strain curve for polycarbonate typical of ductile materials, places it in an ideal position for use as a metal replacement. Weight savings as a metal replacement are substantial, because polycarbonate is only 44% as dense as aluminum and one-sixth as dense as steel. 

Typical true stress-strain curves for amorphous polymers are shown in Fig. 2. 

Fig. 2 Typical stress-strain curves for amorphous polymers, a Elastic, anelastic, strain softening, and plastic flow regions can be seen, b Plastic flow occurs at the same stress level as required for yielding so strain softening does not exist, c Strain hardening occurs very close to yielding, suppressing both strain softening and plastic flow behaviour...

In view of the multitude of observed deformation mechanisms it is useful at this point to examine the effects of external variables, especially that of ambient temperature, on the deformation behavior of semi-crystalline thermoplastics. At room temperature many of these polymers are above their glass transition point and owe their strength and stiffness to the crystalline phases. The first displacements start in the relatively soft amorphous layers, but the stress-strain curve is largely determined by the presence and arrangement of the crystals. Interlamellar slip has been identified as an important mechanism, but, in addition, crystalline deformation mechanisms occur at moderate strains The corresponding stress-strain curve shows an... 

The most common type of stress-strain tests is that in which the response (strain) of a sample subjected to a force that increases with time, at constant rate, is measured. The shape of the stress-strain curves is used to define ductile and brittle behavior. Since the mechanical properties of polymers depend on both temperature and observation time, the shape of the stress-strain curves changes with the strain rate and temperature. Figure 14.1 illustrates different types of stress-strain curves. The curves for hard and brittle polymers (Fig. 14.1a) show that the stress increases more or less linearly with the strain. This behavior is characteristic of amorphous poly-... 

Fig. 24. Schematic stress-strain curves of an amorphous rubber reinforced with various fillers. See text for identification of curves A to D...

The stress-strain curves of ductile thermoplastics (including both glassy amorphous polymers such as bisphenol-A polycarbonate and semicrystalline polymers such as polyethylene at room temperature) have the general shapes shown in Figure 11.16(a), which can be compared with the shape of the stress-strain curve of a very brittle material shown in Figure 11.16(b). The stress-strain curves of polymers which are neither very ductile nor very brittle under the testing conditions being utilized have appearances which are intermediate between these. two extremes. 

At small strains, polymers (both amorphous and crystalline) show essentially linear elastic behavior. The strain observed in this phase arises from bond angle deformation and bond stretching it is recoverable on removing the applied stress. The slope of this initial portion of the stress-strain curve is the elastic modulus. With further increase in strain, strain-induced softening occurs, resulting in a reduction of the instantaneous modulus (i.e., slope decreases). Strain-softening phenomenon is attributed to uncoiling... 

Figures 13.16 and 13.17 are plots of the compressive stress-strain data for two amorphous and two crystalline polymers, respectively, while Figure 13.18 shows tensile and compressive stress-strain behavior of a normally brittle polymer (polystyrene). The stress-strain curves for the amorphous polymers are characteristic of the yield behavior of polymers. On the other hand, there are no clearly defined yield points for the crystalline polymers. In tension, polystyrene exhibited brittle failure, whereas in compression it behaved as a ductile polymer. The behavior of polystyrene typifies the general behavior of polymers. Tensile and compressive tests do not, as would normally be expected, give the same results. Strength and yield stress are generally higher in compression than in tension.

Tensile Properties Similar to polyethylene, the stress-strain curve of JSR RB has a yield point. Above the yield point, the stress-strain curve continues to increase with elongation, then breaks. This kind of stress-strain curve is similar to EVA and indicates a characteristic property lying somewhere between amorphous and crystalline polymers. The dynamic properties of JSR RB can be improved by stretch-... 

Figure 1.2 Typical schematic tensile stress-strain curves for polymers (a) brittle, amorphous thermoplastic, (b) same polymer with toughening additive, (c) intrinsically tough, semi-crystalline thermoplastic. The curves should be taken only to convey trends and not relative breaking stresses, which vary with the precise materials...

Typical stress-strain curves for plastics are shown in Fig. 1.2. The figure shows qualitatively (a) the steep, but non-linear curve associated with amorphous, brittle thermoplastics such as unmodified polystyrene, (b) the equivalent graph for a similar brittle thermoplastics material to which rubber has been added to produce a high impact grade and (c) an intrinsically tough thermoplastics material, such as a nylon (polyamide). 

---