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CHEE3301 - Polymer Engineering - Lab 6 - Time/temperature Properties

This lab covers two manifestations of viscoelasticity in polymers: creep and impact behavior. In part A, students measure the creep of polyethylene samples under constant loads and generate creep curves and isochronous stress-strain curves. In part B, students test samples of various polymers for impact energy at room temperature and liquid nitrogen temperature to observe how temperature affects toughness. They compare fracture surfaces and failure modes. The report involves plotting and analyzing creep data, summarizing impact results, and discussing effects of temperature on impact behavior and differences between polymers.

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86 views

CHEE3301 - Polymer Engineering - Lab 6 - Time/temperature Properties

This lab covers two manifestations of viscoelasticity in polymers: creep and impact behavior. In part A, students measure the creep of polyethylene samples under constant loads and generate creep curves and isochronous stress-strain curves. In part B, students test samples of various polymers for impact energy at room temperature and liquid nitrogen temperature to observe how temperature affects toughness. They compare fracture surfaces and failure modes. The report involves plotting and analyzing creep data, summarizing impact results, and discussing effects of temperature on impact behavior and differences between polymers.

Uploaded by

bob
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© © All Rights Reserved
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CHEE3301 Polymer Engineering Lab 6 Time/temperature properties

Many metals and ceramics show behaviour that is largely elastic at small strains. To produce a small
strain in the material requires a stress that is directly proportional to the strain. They obey Hookes
law and the proportionality constant between stress and strain is Youngs modulus. An ideal fluid
shows Newtonian viscosity in which the shear strain rate is proportional to the shear stress where the
proportionality constant is the viscosity. Polymers show behaviour that has characteristics of both
elastic behaviour and viscous flow. They are said to be Viscoelastic.
There are a number of manifestations of viscoelasticity in polymers. Because the elastic response to
stress is instantaneous while the viscous response is dependent on time, all of the mechanical
properties of polymers are time dependent. In lab 5, you have seen the effect of strain rate (the time
frame of the experiment) on the yield behaviour and also the effect of time on the stress required to
maintain constant strain i.e. the effect of stress relaxation.
This practical introduces another manifestations of viscoelasticity, namely Creep - the increase with
time in the strain on a specimen subjected to constant stress.
It also illustrates the change in toughness that can occur in polymers tested at high rates, i.e. at impact
speeds, or at low temperatures.

Experimental Procedure
Please read through both parts of the experimental procedure first so that you can plan your
time appropriately (in particular you will need to put some samples for impact testing in the
cooling bath in good time).
A: Creep
The material to be tested is either a linear low density polyethylene or a high density polyethylene
in the form of dumbbell specimens.
1. Measure the thickness and the width of the gauge length of the sample.
2. Mount the specimen in the grips of the INSTRON tensile testing machine. Make sure the specimen
is aligned so that the specimen will not be subjected to bending. The grips have a central mark to
assist you with this.
As the area of the sample gripped is quite small compared to the area of the grip itself, wedges
need to be inserted at the far end of each grip to keep the grip faces parallel.
3. The specimen is to be loaded with a constant load. To do this we place the INSTRON in load
control, ramp the load quickly to the set load and hold the load at this level and record the
displacement.
SAFETY NOTE: In load control, the INSTRON can become unstable and move the cross
head rapidly if the specimen breaks ie no means of maintaining load on the machine. It is
important to ensure that appropriate safety limits are set both within the software and
mechanically on the load frame.
4. Test one sample each at a load of 120 N, 250 N and 400 N respectively. These values are of the
order of 0.25 - 0.7 times the yield strength of the material at room temperature

1 CHEE3301 Polymer Engineering 2017


B: Impact behaviour
A small bench mounted Charpy impact tester (Zwick) will be used to test the impact behaviour of a
number of polymer samples. This machine can be fitted with pendulums of different mass but the
pendulum delivering 2J should be suitable.
Polymers available to be tested are:
Polypropylene
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE)
Polycarbonate
PMMA
ABS
1. Measure the thickness and width of each sample
2. Test each sample at room temperature and calculate the impact energy per unit width.
3. Observe the fracture surface (Hint: A quick photo may help here).
4. Place a second specimen of each polymer in the cooling bath and allow 30 minutes for the samples
to come to temperature (Polymers have low thermal conductivity. It takes a long time for the centre
of the specimen to reach the same temperature as the outside)
5. Do low temperature impact tests by quickly removing the sample from the cooling bath, positioning
on the impact tester and testing before the sample has time to warm up significantly.
SAFETY NOTE: The cooling bath, consisting of methanol and dry ice, is at a temperature of
-45C. Ensure you always use the tongs provided and wear appropriate PPE.

Report
Individual reports are required. This does not need to be formal, just report the following (in particular
note that a full description of the procedures is not required).
A: Creep
1. Construct plots of strain versus log(time) for the polyethylene material at the three stress levels
used. (2 marks)
2. Construct the isochronous (constant time) stress-strain curve for this grade of polyethylene at 100
sec and 1000 sec. To calculate strain, take the gauge length of the sample as 40 mm. (2 marks)
3. Answer the following questions: (2 marks)
a) A device made from this grade of polymer is to be used in a situation where it will be under
load for 1000 sec. It is known that the device will jam if the strain is greater than 5%. What
stress can be applied to the device without it jamming?
b) If the device had been made from mild steel, stress/strain data from a simple constant strain
rate test could be used to give the appropriate stress. Why can we not do this with polymers?
B: Impact behaviour
4. Describe the fracture surfaces and failures and report the impact result (in a table) for each sample
at both temperatures. (2 marks)
5. Discuss the reason for the difference in impact behaviour with temperature and why some samples
behave differently to others? (2 marks)
(total marks out of 10 divided by 4 to get contribution to course mark)

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