Yielding behavior of glassy polymers. III. Relative influences of free volume and kinetic energy

The free-volume model for interpreting the initial yielding behavior of glassy polymers is extended to include kinetic energy influences. Molecular mobility is assumed to be determined by the product of the probabilities of attaining sufficient local free volume to allow molecular rearrangement, and kinetic energy to overcome restraining forces. Yielding then is initiated at the point where the free-volume increase resulting from the dilational component of the applied stress is sufficient to bring the local molecular mobility to that characteristic of the unstressed polymer at T_g.

Expressions are derived for the temperature and strain-rate dependences of the initial yield strain (defined as the proportional limit on the tensile stress-strain curve) and compared with experimental data for poly(methyl methacrylate). The extended model is found to afford no substantial improvement over a simple free-volume model, indicating that relaxational processes in the glassy state-at least in the range T_g to (T_g - 100°C)-are governed principally by freevolume changes.