The recoil of rigid PVC

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is widely used in industry, but it is difficult to find any extensive discussion of theological relations that describe it. The present paper discusses the behaviour of rigid PVC in extensional deformations at various temperatures. In the tests, a step elongation was applied at an initial time, then after a delay the specimen was cut, permitting recoil. Both linear and nonlinear strain regimes were studied; the linear relaxation properties (relaxation function, storage modulus) were cross-checked with eccentric-disk measurements. In the non-linear strain regime a single-integral constitutive equation of the KBKZ Wagner type was used. Separability of time and strain effects was demonstrated in our tests and so a damping function could be found which was only a function of strain. Video recordings of recoil were made, and detailed predictions of the strain-time behaviour were checked against experiments.Various constitutive equation proposals were used in the comparison, and the separated kernel integral irreversible model performed reasonably well; some other models of a differential type, and a Doi-Edwards model were not as accurate.Dedicated to Professor Arthur S. Lodge on the occasion of his 70th birthday and his retirement from the University of Wisconsin.