Comparison of the temperature-time dependences of polymer strength under static and cyclic loading

A comparison of the temperature-time dependences of the strength of highly oriented fibers under static and cyclic loading shows that in the region of high temperatures and low loading frequencies the static and cyclic specimen lives always coincide. The discrepancy between the static and cyclic lives observed in the region of low temperatures and higher loading frequencies is related with differences in the structural changes in the different loading regimes. These changes are relaxational in nature.The experimental data were reported at the 14th and 16th All-Union Conferences on High-Molecular Compounds (1964 and 1966).A. F. Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, Leningrad. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 648–655, July–August, 1968.     

Generalized criterion of the long-term strength of viscoelastic materials

A long-term strength condition of the same type as the Il'yushin [2] or Moskvitin [1] nonlinear criterion is proposed. A method is suggested for determining the stress and time functions forming part of the proposed criterion from the long-term strength diagrams and from the data of pulsed or stepped loading tests. It is shown, on the basis of the experimental data, that the proposed criterion, which in a particular case is identical with the Moskovitin criterion, describes the experimental results better than the Bailey criterion.     

Study of the impact shear strength of polymer materials

A method is proposed for studying the dynamic strength of block polymers in terms of their resistance to impact shear. An original instrument for conducting tests are room and elevated temperatures is described. The results obtained with this instrument for alkathene and styrene carylonitrile copolymer are discussed. It is found that there is a considerable increase in specific shear energy in the region of transition from the glassy to the high elastic state. In the case of alkathene the investigated characteristic falls linearly on the temperature interval studied.Leningrad Kirov Institute of the Textile and Light Industries. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 4, No. 6, pp. 1135–1137, November–December, 1968.     

Effect of hydrostatic pressure on the strength properties of polymer materials

On the assumption that the strength characteristics of homogeneous polymer materials depend on the specific volume, equations are derived for the dependence of the strength or high-elastic limit on the hydrostatic component of the stress tensor and temperature. The ultimate strengths in simple tension, compression and shear are considered in relation to brittle and plastic fracture.Institute of Polymer Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, Riga. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 3, pp. 449–454, May–June, 1969.     

Effect of hydrostatic pressure on the tensile strength of polymer materials

The effect of hydrostatic pressure on the tensile strength of amorphous, crystalline, and thermosetting polymers has been investigated. The maximum hydrostatic pressure was 2000 kgf/cm². The surfaces of some specimens were protected from the ambient medium (oil). The tests showed that hydrostatic pressure improves the strength or high-elastic limit and Young's modulus of all the materials investigated. In the case of brittle materials, the increase in strength is greater if the surface is protected, whereupon the plasticity is also improved. Hydrostatic pressure produces important changes in the deformation behavior of crystalline polymers.Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 3, No. 6, pp. 1043–1047, 1967     

Estimation of the long-term strength of polymer materials under arbitrary loading histories

A nonlinear version of the phenomenological theory of long-term strength of polymer materials (viscoelastic bodies) is proposed. It is based on the introduction of a function accounting for the damage accumulation connected with changes in the load intensity. The form of this function may be determined from the results of testing the material with a load changing with time in a certain way, for instance, periodically. As a parameter, the function contains the rate of the changing load or the frequency for periodic loads. For a quasi-isotropic material, the basic relationships of the theory proposed are generalized to the case of combined stresses. The durability (failure time) calculations of the material based on this theory are compared with experimental data for a number of polymer and composite materials in a wide range of loading modes. Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 35, No. 5, pp. 585–594, September–October, 1999.     

Prediction of the short-term strength of polymer materials based on equations of state

The possibility is analyzed of using equations of state for predicting the mechanical properties of linear amorphous polymers with short-term loading from data for their compressibility.D. I. Mendeleev Chemical Technology Institute, Moscow. Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 258–262, March–April, 1997.     

Problems in the prediction of the long-term strength of polymer materials. A review

Conclusions As in the case of the selection of the simplified equations used in the theory of nonlinear viscoelasticity, variants of the equations of the temperature-time dependence of the strength of polymer materials are constructed on the basis of some similarity condition of the experimental lifetime curves. Principles according to which it would be possible to make a prior assignment of a material to some class on the basis of similarity criteria only using, for example, information on chemical composition and structure without testing for long-term strength are lacking. The equations presented in this review may be used for predicting the lifetime only when the nature of the resistance to long-term destruction over time in a given temperature range exactly corresponds to the assumptions inherent in some equation. Thus, the selection of the boundaries of the temperature ranges, in which we may assume uniformity for the deformation and destruction mechanisms leading in the final analysis to identical types of destruction, becomes most significant. Hence, the parametrical methods have a series of advantages since they do not place rigid limitations on the nature of the long-term strength curves at a given temperature.The temperature-time analogy method is the most favored method for predicting long-term strength since this method, without negating other approaches, is their generalization. The use of this method is most promising for cases of a complex stressed state and complex stress pathways. In this case, the temperature -time shift function is most conveniently introduced into the surface strength functionals.Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, No. 4, pp. 694–704, July–August, 1979.     

Generalized characteristic polynomials of graph bundles

In this paper, we find computational formulae for generalized characteristic polynomials of graph bundles. We show that the number of spanning trees in a graph is the partial derivative (at (0,1)) of the generalized characteristic polynomial of the graph. Since the reciprocal of the Bartholdi zeta function of a graph can be derived from the generalized characteristic polynomial of a graph, consequently, the Bartholdi zeta function of a graph bundle can be computed by using our computational formulae.     

Vibrocreep of polymer materials

The vibrocreep of low-density polyethylene (LDP) in uniaxial tension has been investigated in the presence of vibration in the direction of action of the constant load. The material was deformed under nonisothermal conditions owing to heating caused by the dissipation of vibrational energy. Superimposing vibrations leads to a considerable increase in creep rate. It is shown that this increase can not be explained solely in terms of the rise in temperature due to heating of the material; there is also a dynamic creep acceleration effect. Avariant of the vibrocreep approximation with allowance for the dynamic and temperature creep acceleration effects is proposed.Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 413–420, 1968     

Vibrocreep of polymer materials

The normal and vibrational creep and recovery of low- and high-density polyethylene (LDPE and HDPE) and filled LDPE have been studied experimentally under isothermal conditions when the superposition of vibration is not accompanied by mechanohysteresis heating of the material.Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 246–254, 1968     

Problem of the breakdown of polymer materials

The kinetic dependence of the strength characteristics of polymers is examined in relation to the specific characteristic features of their structure. The interrelationship of the process of breakdown to relaxation transitions in the polymers and to factors influencing the temperature characteristics of the transitions has been demonstrated.