Polymer crystals plastic deformation

In summarizing, it can be concluded that the microhardness of elongational flow injection moulded PE is influenced by a local double mechanical contribution (a) a plastic deformation of crystal lamellae under the indenter, and (b) an elastic recovery of shish-fibrils parallel to the injection direction after load removal. Further, the Shish-crystals are preferentially formed when high orientation occurs, i.e. at zones near the centre of the mould and at an optimum processing temperature Tp around 145-150 °C. Below this temperature overall orientation decreases due to a wall-sliding mechanism of the mbber-like molten polymer. 

It is well known [73] that plastic deformation in crystals can occur when the applied shear stress can cause one plane of atoms to slip over another plane because there is an imperfect match between these adjacent planes at a particular point in the crystal lattice. These points of imperfection are called dislocations [74] and were identified by electron diffraction techniques to relate to specific crystal defects. Dislocations are observed in polyethylene single crystals by Peterman and Gleiter [75] and give credence to the idea that yield in crystalline polymers can be understood in similar terms to those used by metallurgists for crystalline solids. 

It follows that in drawing there is a competition between cavitation and activation of crystal plasticity easier phenomena occur first, cavitation m polymers with crystals of higher plastic resistance, and plastic deformation of crystals in polymers with crystals of lower plastic resistance. 

Probably the first to take up this technique for purposes of scientific research was Michael Polanyi (1891-1976) who in 1922-1923, with the metallurgist Erich Schmid (1896-1983) and the polymer scientist-to-be Hermann Mark (1895-1992), studied the plastic deformation of metal crystals, at the Institute of Fibre Chemistry in Berlin-Dahlem in those days, good scientists often earned striking freedom to follow their instincts where they led, irrespective of their nominal specialisms or the stated objective of their place of work. In a splendid autobiographical account of those... 

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. 

Techniques and procedures of such thermoeleastic measurements under unidirectional or uniform (hydrostatic) deformation of solid and rubberlike polymers are described in 1 64 66). Similar methods have been used more often for recording the temperature changes resulting from the plastic deformation of solid polymers. Besides thermocouples, fluorescent substances, liquid crystals and IR-bolometers are used for such measurements. 

Figure 12 represents all steps of craze formation in crystalline polymers in a single model. It is based on Hornbogen s model for a crack tip in a polymer crystal, under the utilization of individual block drawings by Schultz for the fine scale nature of plastic deformation in semicrystalline thermoplastics. The classification into four regions A to D (after ) helps to describe and imderstand the influence of molecular parameters on craze strength and craze breakdown. 

A new thermodynamic derivation of eq. (4.8) has been proposed making use of a modified Clausius-Clapeyron equation. The derivation of this equation is based on the assumption that plastic deformation involves a partial melting of the polymer crystals (Hirami et al, 1999). 

K for PEO) in agreement with previous results (Balta Calleja Santa Cruz, 1996 Balta Calleja et al, 1994). The b/b ratio derived from the slope of the plots is around 2 for PET, 44 for PE and 95 for PEO. This result suggests that for flexible polymers the energy required for plastic deformation of the crystals is much lower than the melting enthalpy. As the chain stiffness increases, the b/b ratio seems to decrease as a consequence of a higher energy required for crystal deformation. 

There have been many efforts for combining the atomistic and continuum levels, as mentioned in Sect. 1. Recently, Santos et al. [11] proposed an atomistic-continuum model. In this model, the three-dimensional system is composed of a matrix, described as a continuum and an inclusion, embedded in the continuum, where the inclusion is described by an atomistic model. The model is validated for homogeneous materials (an fee argon crystal and an amorphous polymer). Yang et al. [96] have applied the atomistic-continuum model to the plastic deformation of Bisphenol-A polycarbonate where an inclusion deforms plastically in an elastic medium under uniaxial extension and pure shear. Here the atomistic-continuum model is validated for a heterogeneous material and elastic constant of semi crystalline poly( trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) is predicted. 

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