Rheological analysis, polymers elasticity

The effect of oxidative irradiation on mechanical properties on the foams of E-plastomers has been investigated. In this study, stress relaxation and dynamic rheological experiments are used to probe the effects of oxidative irradiation on the stmcture and final properties of these polymeric foams. Experiments conducted on irradiated E-plastomer (octene comonomer) foams of two different densities reveal significantly different behavior. Gamma irradiation of the lighter foam causes stmctural degradation due to chain scission reactions. This is manifested in faster stress-relaxation rates and lower values of elastic modulus and gel fraction in the irradiated samples. The incorporation of O2 into the polymer backbone, verified by IR analysis, conftrms the hypothesis of... 

The term viscoelasticity combines viscous and elastic stress-strain flow characteristics. If materials behavior is dominated by viscous flow it is generally referred to as a fluid, whereas if the elastic properties dominate the mechanical properties of a material it is considered to be solid. Most adhesives are applied in a liquid or pasty condition to allow wetting and promote spreading and then are required to phase change into a solid. In the liquid state, rheology provides the methods to differentiate between elastic and viscous flow characteristics while, for example, dynamic mechanical analysis of cured adhesive polymers uses similar principles to access elastic and viscous parameters of the stress-strain response. 

Dynamic mechanical techniques are important in the characterization of the rheological properties of polymers. In dynamic mechanical analysis, a small-amplitude oscillatory strain is applied to a sample, and the resulting dynamic stress is measured as a function of time. The dynamic mechanical technique allows the simultaneous measurement of both the elastic and the viscous components of the stress response. Typically, the temperature and deformation frequencies are changed in order to determine the mechanical relaxation spectrum of the system. The molecular basis of changes in the dynamic mechanical properties can be investigated using dynamic IR dichroism. 

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