Mechanical properties defined

First, there is the universal importance of mechanical properties defined in a broad sense as the ability of a material to resist mechanical action and the interest of both science and industry to control those properties. Depending on the need, one may seek to increase the resistance to mechanical action, thus ensuring strength and durability, or one may want to decrease that resistance in order to improve one s ability to form and machine a material. 

A schematic stress-strain curve of an uncrimped, ideal textile fiber is shown in Figure 4. It is from curves such as these that the basic factors that define fiber mechanical properties are obtained. 

The molecular weight and the distribution of multiple molecular weights normally found within a commercial polymer influence both the processibiUty of the material and its mechanical properties. Eor a few well-defined homopolymers, an analysis of composition and molecular weight is sufficient to define the likely mechanical properties of the polymer. 

Mechanical Properties. The performance of various polyester resin compositions can be distinguished by comparing the mechanical properties of thin castings (3 mm) of the neat resin defined in ASTM testing procedures (15). This technique is used widely to characterize subtle changes in flexural, tensile, and compressive properties that are generally overshadowed in highly filled or reinforced laminates. 

Mechanical Properties. The hexagonal symmetry of a graphite crystal causes the elastic properties to be transversely isotropic ia the layer plane only five independent constants are necessary to define the complete set. The self-consistent set of elastic constants given ia Table 2 has been measured ia air at room temperature for highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (20). With the exception of these values are expected to be representative of... 

Hard lenses can be defined as plastic lenses that contain no water, have moduli in excess of 5 MPa (500 g/mm ), and have T well above the temperature of the ocular environment. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) has excellent optical and mechanical properties and scratch resistance and was the first and only plastic used as a hard lens material before higher oxygen-permeable materials were developed. PMMA lenses also show excellent wetting in the ocular environment even though they are hydrophobic, eg, the contact angle is 66°. 

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) F4 Committee on Medical Materials and Devices has developed specifications for chemical composition, mechanical properties, and other factors. Standard test methods also are available from ASTM, 1916 Race Street, Philadelphia. The quaHty of castings is important for dental implants, and standards to define this would be useful. 

There are two major aspects to this discussion of orientation in polymers. First, there is the question of defining orientation, and the information which can be obtained in principle by any given spectroscopic technique regarding orientation in a polymer. This leads directly to the problem of relating orientation to deformation mechanisms, because this may permit comparatively limited information to be put to optimum use. Secondly, there is the relationship between orientation and physical properties, especially mechanical properties, where such information has been valuable in stimulating and assessing practical developments such as high modulus polymers. 

The present review shows how the microhardness technique can be used to elucidate the dependence of a variety of local deformational processes upon polymer texture and morphology. Microhardness is a rather elusive quantity, that is really a combination of other mechanical properties. It is most suitably defined in terms of the pyramid indentation test. Hardness is primarily taken as a measure of the irreversible deformation mechanisms which characterize a polymeric material, though it also involves elastic and time dependent effects which depend on microstructural details. In isotropic lamellar polymers a hardness depression from ideal values, due to the finite crystal thickness, occurs. The interlamellar non-crystalline layer introduces an additional weak component which contributes further to a lowering of the hardness value. Annealing effects and chemical etching are shown to produce, on the contrary, a significant hardening of the material. The prevalent mechanisms for plastic deformation are proposed. Anisotropy behaviour for several oriented materials is critically discussed. 

It is further assumed that the mesophase layer consists of a material having progressively variable mechanical properties. In order to match the respective properties of the two main phases bounding the mesophase, a variable elastic modulus for the mesophase may be defined, which, for reasons of symmetry, depends only on the radial distance from the fiber-mesophase surface. In other words, it is assumed that the mesophase layer consists of a series of elementary peels, whose constant mechanical properties differ to each other by a quantity (small enough) defined by the law of variation of Ej(r). 

These models are improvements of a similar model4), where the third phase was assumed with constant mechanical properties, lying in-between the two main-phases and represented in Fig. 13. This model is totally defined by considering as boundary-... 

The thus defined values for Uj s, together with the respective values for the moduli of the composites, were introduced in the adequate models, expressing the mechanical properties of the composites in terms of their constituents, and gave excellent coincidence with their experimental values, based on the parabolic variation of... 

When we consider the mechanical properties of polymeric materials, and in particular when we design methods of testing them, the parameters most generally considered are stress, strain, and Young s modulus. Stress is defined as the force applied per unit cross sectional area, and has the basic dimensions of N m in SI units. These units are alternatively combined into the derived unit of Pascals (abbreviated Pa). In practice they are extremely small, so that real materials need to be tested with a very large number of Pa... 

The two mechanical properties measured most frequently using indentation techniques are the hardness, H, and the elastic modulus, E. A t5pical load-displacement curve of an elastic-plastic sample during and after indentation is presented in Fig. 30, which also serves to define some of the experimental quantities involved in the measurement. 

The structure of a-C H films may be thus pictured as sp--carbon atoms in condensed aromatic clusters, dispersed in an sp- -rich matrix, which confers to the network its characteristic rigidity. This situation can also be regarded as a random covalent network in which the sp" clusters of a defined size take part in the structure as an individual composed atom with its corresponding coordination number [17]. Such kinds of models have been successfully used to describe the dependence of a-C H film mechanical properties on composition, hybridization, and sp" clustering [23]. 

Reactive polymers can be synthesized by either polymerizing or copolymerizing monomers containing the desired functional groups, or performing one or more modifications on a suitable polymer to introduce the essential functionality. Polymers produced directly by polymerization of functionalized monomers have well defined structures, but the physical and mechanical properties of the... 

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