| Abstract: | Fatigue crack propagation tests on annealed and quenched medium-density polyethylene showed the annealed specimens to have much lower resistance to crack initiation and subsequent propagation. Although the same fracture mechanism, in which the brittle crack gradually becomes more ductile, prevailed in both cases, the voided and fibrillated crack tip root craze in the annealed material was much weaker that the nonfibrillated quenched root craze. Microstructural analyses indicate that the annealed material had separate crystallite populations, whereas the quenched material had a more homogeneous morphology. The highest melting fraction of the annealed material was composed of lamellae that were about 270 Å thick, and the quenched lamellae were estimated to be 160 Å thick. The reduced fatigue crack propagation resistance of the annealed material was suggested to be a result of a lower concentration of tie molecules and its reduced damping capability, compared to the quenched material. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
