A test procedure for separating viscous recovery and accumulated unrecoverable deformation of polymer under cyclic loading

After uniaxial tension and creep tests, asymmetric stress cycle tests have been performed on two polycarbonate (PC) materials with different molecular weights at room temperature. The effects of stress level (mean stress and stress amplitude) and time-dependent factors (stress rate and peak hold time) on ratcheting were studied. To separate the contributions of viscous recovery and accumulated unrecoverable deformation, a new test procedure has been proposed and performed on polycarbonate. The results demonstrate that the proposed test procedure is suitable for separating the viscous recovery and accumulated unrecoverable deformation. The study clearly shows that, for PC, both the viscous recovery and the accumulated unrecoverable deformation cannot be neglected for cyclic loading; previous viscous deformation has significant influence on the following cyclic accumulated deformation.     

Multiaxial ratcheting behavior of PTFE at room temperature

A series of multiaxial ratcheting experiments have been performed on polyteterafluoroethylene (PTFE) solid cylindrical specimens. All the tests were conducted under cyclic shear strain with a constant axial stress at room temperature. The effects of axial stress, shear strain range, shear strain rate and their histories on the ratcheting behavior of PTFE were studied. It is shown that the ratcheting strain depends on the constant axial stress, cyclic shear strain range and shear strain rate. The ratcheting strain increases more rapidly as the constant axial stress or shear strain range become larger, or the shear strain rate is reduced. Furthermore, the loading histories also play an important role in the progress of ratcheting. The prior cycling with higher axial stress, larger strain range or lower strain rate greatly restrains ratcheting strain of subsequent cycling at lower strains. Such phenomenon is due to the enhancement of the material deformation resistance caused by the prior loadings.     

Uniaxial ratcheting behavior of hygrothermal aging anisotropic conductive adhesive film

A series of uniaxial ratcheting experiments on anisotropic conductive adhesive film (ACF) were conducted under stress-control at elevated temperature using a DMA-Q800. The ratcheting behavior of ACF specimens with different hygrothermal aging times was investigated at room temperature and 120 °C. The effects of loading rate, mean stress and stress amplitude on the ratcheting behavior of unaged and aged specimens were compared. The results show that the ratcheting strains of aged specimens are smaller than those of unaged specimens under the same experimental conditions. The cycling stability of aged specimens is increased by hygrothermal aging. At room temperature, with the increase of aging time, the ratcheting strains of aged specimens increase with hygrothermal aging time when it is less than or equal to 96 h but, however, decrease when it exceeds 96 h. At 120 °C the ratcheting strains of ACF only decrease with the increase of hygrothermal aging time. Additionally, the effects of loading rate, mean stress and stress amplitude on the ratcheting behavior of unaged and aged ACF are different and their effects are weakened by hygrothermal aging.     

Temperature-dependent ratcheting of PTFE gaskets under cyclic compressive loads with small stress amplitude

Uniaxial stress-controlled ratcheting experiments on PTFE gaskets under cyclic compressive loads with small stress amplitude were performed. The effect of temperature on the deformation behavior was considered. Results showed that the compressive modulus decreases rapidly when the temperature increases from 100 °C to 200 °C. Compressive ratcheting deformation with cycles increase significantly with the increases of temperature. The ratcheting deformations at 100 °C, 150 °C and 200 °C are nearly two, three and five times that at room temperature, respectively. Most of ratcheting deformation mainly occurs during the first 20 cycles because the subsequent ratcheting rate and strain range are small and much less than those in the previous cycles. The accumulated deformation under cyclic loads with small stress amplitude is relatively approach to the static compressive creep with the same peak stress. Therefore, the accumulated deformation with time of PTFE gaskets obtained by cyclic compression with small stress amplitude can be estimated by the corresponding static creep deformation with good accuracy under the approximate stress rate and the same temperature, especially at room temperature.     

Compressive ratcheting effect of expanded PTFE considering multiple load paths

Uniaxial stress-controlled ratcheting behaviors of expanded PTFE (ePTFE) under cyclic compressive loads were tested. The effects of temperature, stress rate and mean stress on the ratcheting behaviors of ePTFE considering multiple load paths were discussed in detail. Results present that the steady ratcheting strain is rate-independent when the stress rate is less than about 0.1 MPa/s, while it approximately linearly decreases with increasing the stress rate for greater stress rate. Additionally, the steady ratcheting is temperature-independent when the temperature is greater than about 150 °C, but it nearly linearly increases with enhancing the temperature for lower temperature. Especially, the stress rate almost has little effect on the ratcheting strain of ePTFE at 200 °C. Moreover, the accumulated ratcheting strain enhances rapidly in about the first 80 cycles, and subsequently tends to shakedown in the subsequent cycles for each load path. Furthermore, if a higher stress is used in the prior cycling, the greater ratcheting strain may be produced, and a negative ratcheting strain rate can be obtained in the subsequent cycling with lower mean stress due to the greater strain hardening and deformation resistance produced by the previous higher stress.     

Uniaxial ratcheting behavior of polytetrafluoroethylene at elevated temperature

A series of uniaxial ratcheting experiments has been carried out on cold compaction polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) specimens. All the tests were performed under stress control at elevated temperature. The effects of mean stress, stress amplitude, applied temperature and their histories on the ratcheting behavior of PTFE were studied. It is shown that, as the applied temperature was raised, the elastic modulus of PTFE declined rapidly. The ratcheting strain increased as the mean stress, stress amplitude and temperature increased. Especially, when the temperature was over 100 °C, the ratcheting strain accumulated rapidly. Furthermore, the loading histories also play an important role in the progress of ratcheting. Previous cycling with higher mean stress and stress amplitude greatly restrains ratcheting strain of subsequent cycling at lower ones. Such a phenomenon is due to the enhancement of the material deformation resistance caused by the previous loadings. As the applied temperature changes, the ratcheting strain still accumulates along the direction of mean stress.     

Effect of molecular structure of curing agents on cyclic creep in highly cross-linked epoxy polymers

Ratcheting behavior of highly–cross-linked epoxy polymers was investigated considering the effect of molecular structure of curing agents by molecular dynamics simulations. Cyclic loading–unloading simulations at two different frequencies were conducted using atomistic models for epoxies cured by aliphatic and aromatic curing agents, triethylenetetramine (TETA) and diethyltoluenediamine (DETDA), respectively. Different ratcheting strain evolutions, dihedral angle stress accumulations, and stiffness variations were observed during the cyclic deformation simulations depending on the molecular structure of curing agents. The epoxy cured by DETDA exhibited a more rapid increase of ratcheting strain and a decrease of the stiffness toward the loading direction. Structural analyses were carried out by observing the orientation order parameter of the monomers, radius of gyration, and free volume evolution to understand the ratcheting strain behaviors and stiffness variations at atomistic scale. The structural analyses revealed that irreversible dihedral angle transitions near the benzene ring of the curing agent DETDA were responsible for low ratcheting resistance and stiffness degradation during the cyclic deformations. Whereas, the aliphatic curing agent TETA, which does not exhibit any stress possession by the irreversible dihedral angle change, was revealed to be advantageous for the ratcheting resistance and stiffness variation of the epoxy polymers.     

Experimental observation on multiaxial ratchetting of polycarbonate polymer at room temperature

Multiaxial stress-controlled and mixed stress-strain-controlled cyclic tests were carried out to investigate the multiaxial ratchetting of polycarbonate (PC) polymer at room temperature. The effects of applied mean stress, stress amplitude, loading rate, loading path and loading history on the ratchetting are discussed. The results show that the multiaxial ratchetting mainly occurs in the direction of non-zero mean stress. In the multiaxial stress-controlled cases, the ratchetting strain increases with increasing mean stress and stress amplitude and decreasing stress rate. Different values of ratchetting strain were obtained in the multiaxial cyclic tests with seven different loading paths, and prior cyclic loading with higher stress level resulted in decreased ratchetting in the subsequent cyclic loading with lower stress level. In the multiaxial mixed stress-strain-controlled tests, the ratchetting increased with increasing axial (or equivalent shear) stress and torsional-angle (or axial-displacement) amplitude and decreasing applied deformation rate.     

梯形交变加载作用下聚碳酸酯的应变与寿命

对聚碳酸酯在交变 持久载荷复合作用下应变与寿命研究表明 ,其疲劳 蠕变曲线与纯蠕变曲线十分相似 .加载时间周期越短和交变载荷变化越频繁 ,普弹应变阶段的斜率和应变越小 ,进入延迟弹性变形的平台应变阶段越早 .随每一次循环中的最大载荷加载保持时间延长 ,聚碳酸酯断裂寿命减小 .以最大载荷为恒载荷一直加载的纯蠕变曲线 ,平台最高 ,断裂时间最早 .而最大载荷加载作用时间为 0的纯疲劳曲线 ,平台最低 ,断裂时间最迟 .在交变 持久载荷复合作用下聚碳酸酯存在疲劳和蠕变的交互损伤 ,其断裂寿命N Nf 和 ∑t tr比纯疲劳或纯蠕变的断裂寿命低 ;断裂寿命减小 .并且 ,疲劳 蠕变的交互损伤程度与温度密切相关 .聚碳酸酯在较低温度的疲劳 蠕变交互损伤作用大于较高温度的交互损伤作用 .随温度升高 ,疲劳 蠕变断裂寿命下降是疲劳和蠕变各自的单独损伤增加所致     

Effect of cyclic loading on tensile properties of PC and PC/ABS

The effects of cyclic loading on tensile fracture properties of polycarbonate (PC) and the alloy of polycarbonate and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PC/ABS) are experimentally investigated in the paper. Two digital cameras are used to record simultaneously the tensile deformation of specimens and the large deformation and the necking process of these polymers are discussed. Two lateral contractions are not identical at the later tensile stages and the contraction ratios in each lateral direction are related with the tensile strains in axial direction on width and thickness surface. The curvature radiuses at the minimum section during necking process are shown. The volume increases during necking process and then decreases gradually. The yield stress and fracture stress of PC/ABS are lower than that of PC. The degradation of the fracture stress and fracture strain due to the application of cyclic loading is larger for PC than that for PC/ABS, and these can be used to explain qualitatively why PC has higher fatigue crack growth rate than PC/ABS.     

Temperature Dependence of the Back-Stress in Shear for Glassy Polycarbonate

Summary: Back-stress is the equilibrium stress and represents conditions under which relaxation events in the material stop and the material can carry an applied load indefinitely without a change in strain. In most models for glassy polymers, back-stress plays a central role since relaxation in materials is closely related to the distance of the current conditions from equilibrium. A number of these models that are commonly used for modeling glassy polymers use a modeling structure similar to large deformation plasticity. The flow rule for the plastic strain in these models are directly connected to the “over-stress,” a properly invariant difference between the stress and the back-stress. The importance of correctly evaluating the back-stress to use in these models is clear. For this class of models, the authors have recently developed a method for directly calculating the back-stress under shear deformations. This method is based on evaluating the slope of the stress-strain response under conditions of similar elastic and plastic strain, but different strain rates. Since plastic flow goes to zero at equilibrium, the back-stress can be found by locating points of zero plastic strain rate. Using the proposed method, the back-stress in glassy polycarbonate has been evaluated under shear in isothermal tests going from room temperature to 120 °C, just below the glass transition temperature for polycarbonate. The proposed method provided a full map of the back-stress for polycarbonate over a large range of shear strain and temperature.     

Mechanical properties of fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) foils in use for neutrino detector project

The use of fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) foils as engineering materials for aerospace, solar thermal collector and neutrino detector applications has attracted considerable attention in recent decades. Mechanical properties are indispensable for analyzing corresponding structural behavior to meet the demands of safety and serviceability. In this paper, uniaxial tensile tests taking into account loading speeds, uniaxial tensile cyclic tests in terms of stress amplitude and loading cycles and creep tests considering loading stress and time were carried out to characterize mechanical properties. For uniaxial tensile properties, elastic modulus, yield stress, breaking strength and elongation were analyzed in detail. It is found that these mechanical properties except breaking elongation increased with loading speeds and that mechanical properties obtained in transverse direction were more sensitive than those obtained in machine direction. For cyclic properties, elastic modulus and ratcheting strain tended to be stable after certain cycles, demonstrating that cyclic elastic moduli were more suitable for analyzing structural behavior than those obtained in uniaxial tensile experiments. For creep properties, apparent strain at 6 MPa suggested that special attention was necessary for analyzing structural behavior if maximum stress was larger than 6 MPa. In general, this study could provide useful observations and values for understanding mechanical properties of FEP foils.     

Predicting plasticity‐controlled failure of glassy polymers: Influence of stress‐accelerated progressive physical aging

This study focuses on the prediction of long‐term failure of glassy polymers under static or cyclic loading conditions, including the role of stress‐accelerated progressive aging. Progressive physical aging plays a dominant role in a polymer's performance under prolonged loading conditions, and to obtain accurate predictions of failure, its effect has to be considered. First, the aging kinetics, as influenced by temperature and stress history, are studied extensively. Similar to an elevated temperature, the application of a stress (below the yield stress) activates the aging process, and as a result, the yield stress will evolve faster in time. The activation by stress appears to be limited; at some stress level, the activation stagnates and is followed by rejuvenation. This evolution is captured in a model by introducing a state parameter, which describes the thermodynamic state of the material and is directly linked to the yield stress. With the aging kinetics included in the model, an accurate prediction of the failure time for cyclic loading conditions is obtained. For static loading conditions, however, the effect of physical aging is overestimated because of the stagnation of the activation by stress. It appears that there are marked differences in the stress level where stagnation and subsequent rejuvenation occur for a cyclic or static load. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 1300–1314     

Numerical Assessment of PE 80 and PE 100 Pipe Lifetime Based on Paris-Erdogan Equation

Summary: A novel accelerated fracture mechanics extrapolation procedure based on cyclic test with cracked round bar (CRB) specimens was verified by a correlation of real pipe failure time to simulated failure times at a temperature of 60 °C. The procedure was applied to predict the long-term failure of modern PE 80 and PE 100 pipes 23 °C. Moreover, the used stress intensity factor concept also allows to consider the impact of arbitrary additional loading situations like soil loads or point loads and to assess pipe lifetime under complex loading situations.     

Creep life evaluation of aluminum conductor composite core utilized in high voltage electric transmission

The creep life of aluminum conductor composite core (ACCC) utilized in high voltage electric transmission was investigated using an experimental method based on the equivalence relationship. First, the time-temperature-stress equivalence relationship was developed using the time-temperature and the time-stress equivalence relationships. Then, tensile creep experiments were conducted under different temperatures and different stress levels to obtain the strain-time curves of the ACCC. Finally, the creep strain master curve was obtained using the experimental data based on the time-temperature-stress equivalence relationship, allowing prediction of ACCC creep life. The results will play an important role in evaluation of the long-term characteristics of the ACCC for engineering applications.     

Ratcheting response of elastic perfectly plastic oscillators under random load with non-zero mean

A method is presented for characterizing the ratcheting response of linearly elastic perfectly plastic single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) oscillators subjected to a stationary wide band random excitation with non-zero mean. Developed within the context of stochastic averaging, the method is based on a generalized van der Pol transformation in which the displacement response is split into a ratcheting component and a cyclic component, and the rate of the ratcheting component and the angular frequency of the cyclic component are taken to depend on the amplitude of the cyclic component. The predictions of the method for the mean ratcheting rate and the standard deviation of the velocity are in good agreement with those of the Monte-Carlo simulation.     

Influence of loading frequency on the fatigue behaviour of coir fibre reinforced PP composite

The influence of loading frequency on the fatigue behaviour of a coir fibre reinforced polypropylene (PP) composite was studied. The mechanical behaviour was assessed through monotonic tensile and flexural tests, followed by cyclic bending fatigue tests employing a new specimen geometry, with loading frequencies ranging from 5 to 35 Hz. Results revealed that higher strain rates during monotonic loading lead to higher flexural strength, and higher loading frequencies in cyclic tests promote reduction in fatigue life. Fractographic examination showed that one of the reasons for reduced fatigue life under higher loading frequencies might be related to increased heat generation by hysteresis, leading to a fatigue damage mechanism governed by temperature effects. The results, thus, encourage the development of good practices regarding test frequencies in order to be able to uncouple thermal and mechanical effects and provide relevant data for structural integrity assessments.     

Two new criteria for the service life prediction of plastics pipes

In this contribution, two new criteria and related methodologies for the prediction of the long-term (creep rupture) behavior of single layer and multilayer plastics pipes under hydrostatic pressure are presented. One of these is the ultimate strain extrapolation method (USEM) and the other is called the distortion energy extrapolation method (DEEM). The strain concept is based on the use of the failure strain criteria instead of the normally employed stress concept. A related long-term extrapolation methodology is presented that employs the ultimate strain instead of the rupture stress. The strain energy concept is based on the use of the distortion energy corresponding to the failure stress. For both of these two criteria, related extrapolation methodologies are introduced. An example is presented that compares the classical standard extrapolation method (SEM) with the ultimate strain and the energy methods. For correlation of various models, an example of a PVC-U pipe under internal hydrostatic pressure at T=20 °C was studied. The three models employed were the stress-based, the strain-based, and the energy-based regression analyses. Direct regression analysis was performed for all three failure criteria. However, for comparison, the modified version of the SEM was also used. In all cases, a complete match between the independent model and the modified SEM analysis was obtained. A backward calculation of failure stress from the long-term failure distortion energy gave a 50-year failure stress equal to 18.59 MPa. This value was lower than the stress-based extrapolation (25.37 MPa) and higher than the strain-based extrapolation. The proposed USEM is suitable for materials which fail due to the ultimate strain state and not necessarily due to the maximum stresses. Thus, the proposed strain extrapolation criteria may prove to be especially suitable for brittle and fiber reinforced materials. The strain-based extrapolation can be used in connection with rupture data in internal hydrostatic tests or creep rupture of pipe samples under other loading conditions. The DEEM, on the other hand, is believed to be applicable to a broad range of material types. The proposed methodologies can be used as a new guideline for prediction of the service life of single layer brittle thermoplastics pipes, glass fiber reinforced laminate pipes, and multilayer plastics pipes with fiber reinforced layers.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of yielding phenomena in a shape memory polymer subjected to cyclic tension at various strain rates

This paper presents experimental and numerical results of a polyurethane shape memory polymer (SMP) subjected to cyclic tensile loading. The goal was to investigate the polymer yielding phenomena based on the effects of thermomechanical coupling. Mechanical characteristics were obtained with a testing machine, whereas the SMP temperature accompanying its deformation process was simultaneously measured in a contactless manner with an infrared camera. The SMP glass transition temperature was approximately 45 °C; therefore, when tested at room temperature, the polymer is rigid and behaves as solid material. The stress and related temperature changes at various strain rates showed how the SMP yield limit evolved in subsequent loading-unloading cycles under various strain rates. A two-phase model of the SMP was applied to describe its mechanical response in cyclic tension. The 3D Finite Element model of a tested specimen was used in simulations. Good agreement between the model predictions and experimental results was observed for the first tension cycle.