Effects of Deformation Rate on the Necking of an Amorphous Copolyester Studied by Modulated DSC

The tensile loading-induced necking in notched specimens of an amorphous copolyester (aCOP) was studied by modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC). It was shown that necking occurred by cold drawing since the enthalpy of cold crystallization and that of the subsequent melting agreed fairly with each other. Increasing deformation in the necking zone and increasing deformation rate of the specimens shifted the onset of cold crystallization toward lower temperatures and yielded a slightly higher glass transition temperature (T_g). This was attributed to the molecular orientation caused by mechanical loading. The finding that the melting contained a non-reversing part was considered as appearance of possible microcrystallinity. The T_g range was strongly influenced by the deformation rate and reflects the thermomechanical history of the samples accordingly. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.