Mechanochemical reactions in oriented polymers

Polymer orientation is accompanied by the formation of new chemical groupings, which may be taken as evidence of mechanochemical reactions and degradation of the macromolecules. The composition and concentration of the compounds formed have been investigated. The accumulation of new chemical groups has been recorded as a function of elongation and as a function of experimental temperature at a fixed elongation. The change in the molecular weight of polyethylene associated with orientation has been estimated from the infrared spectroscopy data and from the intrinsic viscosity in decalin.Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad, "Plastpolimer" Research and Production Association, Leningrad. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 3, pp. 387–390, May–June, 1971.     

Molecular mechanism of oriented crystalline polymers

It is shown with reference to linear polyethylene that the deformation of an oriented crystalline polymer takes place as a result of elongation of the coiled parts of the macromolecules in the amorphous zones owing to conversion of gauche into extended trans isomers. The decrease in coiled isomer content when the specimen is deformed by approximately 5% is accompanied by a small number of chemical bond breakages. Repeat deformation by the same amount does not result in any additional breakage of polymer chains.A. F. Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, Academy of Sciences of The USSR, Leningrad. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 4, pp. 584–588, July–August, 1973.     

Propagation of sound in oriented polymers

The propagation of sound in oriented polymers is considered. Starting from an assumption concerning the superposition of relaxation processes in polymers, expressions are obtained for the speed and absorption of sound as functions of the relaxation spectrum, molecular orientation, and crystallinity. It is shown that the orientation dependence of the acoustic properties is more distinctly expressed in the region of the glassy state.Scientific-Research Institute of Plastics, Moscow. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 3, pp. 437–441, May–June, 1969.     

Strength of rigid oriented amorphous polymers

A method is proposed for obtaining uniaxially oriented specimens of amorphous unfractionated polymer with a particular oriented chain length. The length of the oriented chains and their molecular weight M_c depend importantly on the conditions under which the polymer is stretched. It is shown that the strength of specimens obtained by stretching at constant M_c increases linearly with the relative fraction of oriented phase. The slope of this linear relation increases with the length of the oriented molecular chains. The ratio of the maximum strength of fully oriented polystyrene to the strength of the unoriented material is found to be 78 instead of the value of 6 given in [6].Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 3, No. 6, pp. 1048–1053, 1967     

Relaxation processes in oriented amorphous polymers

Values of the birefringence and high-elastic strain are presented for amorphous polystyrene subjected to stretching and annealing. The laws of the relaxation processes that occur in linear polymers under these conditions are discussed.Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 323–329, 1966     

Modeling of induced anisotropy at large deformations for polymers

In this work we develop a model to describe the induced plasticity of polymers at large deformations. Polymers such as stretch films exhibit a pronounced strength in the loading direction. The undeformed state of the films is isotropic, whereas after the uni-axial loading the material becomes anisotropic. In order to consider this induced anisotropy during the stretch process, a spectral decomposition of the inelastic right CAUCHY-GREEN tensor is done. Therefore, the yield function can be formulated as a function of the anisotropic tensor, where again the anisotropic tensor is a function of the maximum eigenvalue. A backward EULER scheme is used for updating the evolution equations, and the algorithmic tangent operator is derived. The numerical implementation of the resulting set of constitutive equations is used in a finite element program and for parameter identification. (© 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Small finite deformations of an amorphous polymer material

Small finite deformations of a polymer material are considered. It is assumed that the volume of the specimen is conserved during deformation and that the strains are affine; furthermore, the equilibrium distance between network nodes is not equal to zero in the specimen, and the unit cell of the network is cubic. Various types of deformation are considered. The expressions obtained are compared with the results of the theory of high elasticity and the experimental data.Branch Institute of Chemical Physics, AS USSR, Moscow. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 4, No. 6, pp. 997–1001, November–December, 1968.     

Relaxation processes in oriented amorphous and crystalline polymers

Studies were made of the experimental data on the relaxation processes leading to the preferential molecular disorientation and uniaxially drawn amorphous and crystalline polymers.A. F. Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 5, pp. 787–792, September–October, 1972.     

Experimental determination of the limiting birefringence of oriented polymers

Experimental data on the birefringence and molecular orientation factorf, determined from the IR absorption spectra in polarized light, are compared for polystyrene, polyvinyl alcohol, and polyethylene. Limiting values of the birefringence corresponding to maximum orientation (f=1) for these polymers are found to be equal to 0.16, 0.063, and 0.065, respectively.Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 3, No. 6, pp. 1105–1109, 1967     

Relation between fracture and deformation in oriented polymers

The development of submicroscopic cracking under load has been studied (by a small-angle X-ray scattering technique) in such oriented polymers as Kapron (Nylon 6), polypropylene, etc. The increase in crack density (N_cr) is compared with the variation of the tensile strain (). The observed correlation between and N_cr indicates that the processes of fracture and deformation of oriented polymers are closely connected. The presence of a similar correlation in loading-relaxation-repeat loading experiments establishes fracture as the primary process.A. F. Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 1, pp. 43–47, January–February, 1970.     

Scale effect of Young's modulus of highly oriented polymers

The scale effect of the acoustic Young's modulus E of oriented polymer fibers has been experimentally revealed. If the fiber length L is smaller than its critical value L₀, the modulus decreases proportionally to the logarithm of the fiber length. An increasing temperature causes a proportional increase in the slope dE/d(In L). The scale effect is explained by the influence of the specimen volume on the probability of initiation of intense thermal fluctuations, which cause a decline in the Young's modulus.Presented at the 10th International Conference on the Mechanics of Composite Materials (Riga, April 20–23, 1998).Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 839–846, November–December, 1998.     

Estimation of the loaded chain fraction in oriented polymers

The relation between the structure coefficient in the expression for the long-term strength of solids under load and the loaded chain fraction is examined on the basis of the thermal-fluctuation theory.Leningrad Branch, All-Union Scientific-Research Institute of Synthetic Fibers. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 1, pp. 3–7, January–February, 1973.     

Instability of the crystallites in oriented polymers under load

Large-angle x-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy have been used to investigate the behavior of the crystalline zones in oriented polymers under load. It is shown that under the influence of a load applied along the axis of orientation the crystallites are partially destroyed, the more so the greater the applied stress. For different polymers the destruction of the crystallites is the greater the weaker the intermolecular bonds. The stability of the crystallites is improved by orientation.A. F. Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 3, pp. 516–520, May–June, 1976.     

Theoretical strength of polymers in a completely oriented state

A solution is presented of the problem on the theoretical strength of a completely oriented polymer by accounting for the intermolecular interaction and finiteness in the length of polymer chains.V. I. Lenin Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, Research Laboratory of the Physics of Polymers. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 3, pp. 458–464, May–June, 1970.     

Variant of statistical interpretation of the formation of viscoelastic deformations of polymers

A variant of a statistical probability interpretation of elementary micromechanisms of formation of viscoelastic deformations of polymers is examined with the aid of the concept of dissymmetric media and the dissymmetry coefficient. A new rheological relationship is obtained, a particular case of which is the known equation of a typical linear viscoelastic body. A method is given for determining the relaxation spectrum for different intensity functions figuring in the rheological relationships. The results of the calculation are compared with the experimental data, exemplified by the creep of polyamide P-68.Institute of Polymer Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, Riga. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 392–396, May–June, 1973.     

On the theory of infrared dichroism of oriented amorphous polymers

A network model of a linear amorphous polymer is used as a basis for calculating the infrared dichroism of uniaxially and biaxially oriented material. The dependence of the dichroism on the uniaxial and biaxial stretch ratios, orientation temperature, and certain other factors is investigated. Previously published experimental data are discussed.Moscow Lenin State Pedagogical Institute, Problem Laboratory of Polymer Physics. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 6, pp. 979–984, November–December, 1970.     

Effect of hydrostatic pressure on submicrocrack formation in oriented polymers

Small-angle x-ray scattering has been used to obtain a quantitative estimate of the concentration and size of the submicrocracks in Kapron and polypropylene equally extended at 1 and 1500 atm. Direct evidence of the retarding effect of pressure on fracture development has been obtained.Institute of Polymer Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, Riga: Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 5, pp. 917–921, September–October, 1971.