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 Mater. Res. Express 6 (2019) 125370 https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1591/ab5e96

PAPER

A constitutive model of the compressive mechanical properties of

RECEIVED
28 September 2019
ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) at different
REVISED
25 November 2019
temperatures and different strain rates
ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION
4 December 2019
PUBLISHED
Kebin Zhang1 , Wenbin Li1,3, Xiaoming Wang1, Wenjin Yao1, Ping Song1 and Changfang Zhao2
12 February 2020 1
ZNDY of Ministerial Key Laboratory, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, People’s Republic of China
2
School of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, People’s Republic of China
3
Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and lackychang@
njust.edu.cn

Keywords: UHMWPE, temperature, strain rate, SHPB, constitutive model

Abstract
The impact resistance of UHMWPE is related to temperature and strain rate. In order to determine
the compressive mechanical properties of UHMWPE, quasi-static and dynamic compression tests
were conducted on UHMWPE using an MTS universal testing machine and split Hopkinson pressure
bar equipment, respectively. Stress–strain curves for UHMWPE over the temperature range of
−40 °C∼100 °C and strain rate range of 0.001∼3300 s−1 was generated. By comparing the stress–
strain curves of UHMWPE with molecular weights (MWs) of 3, 6 and 9 million in a quasi-static state,
it was found that UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million had better compressive mechanical properties
than other UHMWPE samples. Using the stress–strain curves for UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million
at different strain rates and temperatures, the yield strength of UHMWPE increased with an increasing
strain rate and decreased with increasing temperature were obtained. Based on the quasi-static and
dynamic experimental results for UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million, a constitutive model of plasticity
at different temperatures and strain rates was established. This model agreed well with the
experimental results. This study provides both theoretical and empirical reference for the study of the
mechanical properties of UHMWPE materials.

1. Introduction

Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) refers to polyethylene with molecular weights (MW) in
excess of 1.5 million, and they possess most of the excellent properties of ordinary polyethylene and as well as
properties of other plastics. Due of its excellent performance, meaning its impact resistance, wear resistance,
hygienic non-toxicity, corrosion resistance, self-lubricity, low temperature resistance, non-absorption, tensile
strength, low density, and poor adhesion, UHMWPE is widely used in various applications such as the aerospace
industry, medical equipment and power machinery [1–3]. In weapon manufacturing, when UHMWPE is used
to make parts such as the rotating band of a projectile, the impact of the working temperature and the high
overload of the projectile on the compressive mechanical properties of UHMWPE must be considered.
Therefore, it is very important to study the compressive mechanical properties of UHMWPE at different
temperatures and different strain rates.
In order to meet the different requirements on UHMWPE performance in different industries and make it
more widely useful in engineering, many scholars have studied the mechanical properties and created
constitutive models of this material. Kurtz et al [4] studied the effects of irradiation oxidative degradation on the
quasi-static tensile mechanical properties of UHMWPE, and used an exponential model to predict the tensile
mechanical behavior of UHMWPE under quasi-static conditions. Later studies from this group [5] focused on
the yield, plastic flow and fracture behavior of two different implantable UHMWPEs (GUR1120 and 4150HP).

© 2020 IOP Publishing Ltd

Mater. Res. Express 6 (2019) 125370 K Zhang et al

They found that the yield behaviors of the two UHMWPEs were similar, but the plastic flow and the fracture
behavior were noticeably different, and ultimately the fracture behavior of UHMWPE can be experimentally
determined based on the ultimate true stress and the critical defect size. Bergström et al [6] compared the
reproducibility of the J2-plasticity theory, the Arruda-Boyce model, the Hasan-Boyce model and the Bergström-
Boyce model for predicting the compressive mechanical behavior of UHMWPE under tensile quasi-static
conditions. By combining the previous theories, a new hybrid model was proposed that could effectively predict
the quasi-static tensile and compressive mechanical behaviors of UHMWPE. Kurtz et al [7] also studied the
effects of heat treatment and γ-irradiation on the mechanical properties of UHMWPE under static conditions.
They found that changing the heat treatment method and radiation dose significantly changed the mechanical
properties of UHMWPE. In this case, the Arrhenius model was used to accurately predict the thermodynamic
behavior of UHMWPE materials between 20 °C and 60 °C. Crowley et al [8] examined the effects of different
hydroxyapatite (HAP) content on the mechanical properties of UHMWPE under high strain rates. A numerical
SHPB model of an elastic material (which was much lower than aluminum) was developed with the ANSYS
commercial software package, and a numerically developed split Hopkinson pressure bar system was verified
using the experimental results of the high strain rate on the constitutive behavior of nanocomposites. Hughes
et al [9] considered the dynamic compression mechanical properties of low-density polyethylene, high-density
polyethylene and UHMWPE using a modified Hopkinson bar system. This group found that the improved
Hopkinson bar system could effectively improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the transmitted signal. Under the
same conditions, the yield stress of UHMWPE was larger than that of low-density and lower than that of high-
density polyethylene. Xu et al [10] compared low-density polyethylene and UHMWPE under static and dynamic
conditions using uniaxial compression tests and found that UHMWPE had a stronger energy absorption
capacity than low-density polyethylene under the same conditions. The constitutive parameters for the Copper-
Symonds model for these two materials at room temperature were also determined in this work. Based on the
Souza-Martins method, Wang et al [11], for the first time, used dissipative particle dynamics (dpd) simulation to
study the flow behavior of the shear–tension coupled flow of UHMWPE/PA6 blends. They found that the
shear–tension coupling rate had a significant effect on the flow behavior of UHMWPE/PA6 blends. The shear–
tension coupled flow-induced orientation behavior was more pronounced than the shear flow. Wang et al [12]
studied the mechanical behavior and crystal structure of primary filaments and primary fibers of UHMWPE and
HDPE blend fibers. Their results showed that blending UHMWPE with HDPE could improve the fine-grained
structure and dense structure of the as fabricated blended fibers, thereby improving the tensile strength and
initial modulus of the composite fibers.
However, the above research was mainly aimed at understanding the static or dynamic mechanical
properties of UHMWPE at room temperature. There have been few studies on the mechanical properties
proposing constitutive models of UHMWPE considering a range of strain rates or at different temperatures. In
order to study the effect of MW, temperature and strain rate on the compressive mechanical properties of
UHMWPE, an MTS universal testing machine and SHPB device were used to compare the compressive
mechanical properties of UHMWPE with MWs of 3, 6 and 9 million under quasi-static conditions. The
deformation behavior and strain rate effects on UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million over the temperature range
from −40 °C to 100 °C were studied. In this paper, a constitutive model of the yield stress and plasticity of
UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million from −40 °C to 100 °C and 0.001 to 3300 s−1 was created using the improved
J-C model [13]. This structural model agrees well with the experimental results.

2. Experimental procedures

2.1. Materials and sample preparation

The UHMWPE studied in this paper was produced by compression molding. The manufacturing process was
certified by ISO9001 standards. German Tekona and UHMWPE raw materials were put into a high-speed mixer
for mixing. After stirring for a period of time, the raw materials were then put into a hot press. After 2–8 h of hot
pressing, cold pressing was conducted. After cold pressing for 2–8 h, the resulting billet was then placed in a
pressure keeping machine to ensure cooling and setting yielding a 1000×1000×15 mm UHMWPE sheet.
The different UHMWPE raw materials have different MWs, and each correspond to a specific molding
temperature and mold time. The prepared plates were then turned into quasi-static compression test pieces
having a diameter of 10 mm and a height of 10 mm and dynamic compression test pieces having a diameter of 10
mm and a height of 5 mm. The quasi-static compression specimen size was determined according to the GBT
1041–2008 Plastic Compression Performance Measurement design [14]. The length-to-diameter ratio L/D for
dynamic compression tests was determined based on Tang’s research [15], in which an L/D=0.5 reduced the
influence of inertia effects and the friction effect on the end face of the test piece. Although Xu et al [10]
experimentally demonstrated that UHMWPE samples had almost no difference in mechanical properties in

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Mater. Res. Express 6 (2019) 125370 K Zhang et al

Figure 1. SHPB experimental device.

different directions under compression or tension due to UHMWPE’s isotropic properties, in order to avoid
experimental errors, the axial direction of the compressed cylindrical test pieces used in these experiments was
perpendicular to the UHMWPE plate surface. The prepared compressed test pieces were allowed to stand at
room temperature for 48 h so that any residual stress was removed prior to experimentation.

2.2. Quasi-static testing

Quasi-static compression testing of UHMWPE was performed on an MTS testing machine. The test machine
performed a compression test on UHMWPE specimens having MWs of 3, 6 and 9 million, respectively, at a
constant compression rate of 0.6 mm min−1, 6 mm min−1, and 60 mm min−1. In order to ensure the accuracy
of the experimental data, the deformation of the test piece during compression experiments was recorded using
an extensometer. The friction in the experiment was reduced by applying grease to the end face of the test piece
and the end face of the indenter. To reduce the experimental error, three experiments were performed on
different test pieces of the same MW and loading rate, and three sets of experimental data for the loading force F
(kN) and displacement S (mm) were obtained. Their average values were taken for data processing.
The true stress–strain characterizes the physical properties of a material [16]. In this paper, the mechanical
properties of UHMWPE were studied using true stress–strain curves. In order to obtain the true stress–strain
curve from the quasi-static compression experiments, the acquired F-S curve was first converted into an
engineering stress–strain curve by combining the initial diameter and length of the test piece. The engineering
stress strain was then converted to the true stress and the strain of the material was based on the a few
assumptions about the material’s incompressible features listed below.

(1) According to the definition of stress and strain, the acquired F-S curve was converted into engineering stress
σE and engineering strain εE as follows:
F
sE = , (1)
As
Ls - L i
eE = , (2)
Ls
S = Ls - L i , (3)
where F is the loading force; S is the head displacement; AS and LS are the initial cross-sectional area and
length of a test piece, respectively; and Li is the instantaneous length of the test piece.
(2) Assuming that the material is incompressible [16], that is, the volume of the material is constant throughout
the compression process, the σE–εE curve can be converted into the true stress σT and the true strain εT by
the following:
sT = sE (1 - eE ) , (4)
eT = - ln (1 - eE ). (5)

2.3. Dynamic testing

In this paper, the dynamic compressive mechanical properties of UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million were tested
at −40 °C, −10 °C, 25 °C, 50 °C, 70 °C, and 100 °C using a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) as an
experimental setup. Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the principle of the SHPB experimental apparatus
used in this work. The low temperature tests at −40 °C and −10 °C was carried out in a liquid nitrogen cooled
furnace, and the high temperature tests at temperatures higher than 25 °C were carried out in a high temperature
furnace. The test piece was placed between the incident bar and the transmission bar. The center of the
cylindrical test piece should coincide with the center of the end faces of the incident and transmission bars as
much as possible. When using the temperature device, the part of the aluminum bars in contact with the test

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Mater. Res. Express 6 (2019) 125370 K Zhang et al

Figure 2. True stress–strain curves of UHMWPE with molecular weights of 3, 6 and 9 million at strain rates of 0.001 s−1, 0.01 s−1 and
0.1 s−1.

piece and the test piece were heated or cooled in the furnace at the same time. During each experiment, the
temperature change in the furnace was monitored in real time by a thermocouple. In order to ensure that the
temperature of the test piece was the same as the temperature inside the furnace, each test piece was kept at the
corresponding temperature for 5 min before starting each dynamic compression test. At the same impact
velocity, two empty bar experiments with temperature were carried out. It was found that the amplitudes of
incident and transmitted waves at −40 °C and 100 °C were the same as those at room temperature. Therefore,
the influence of temperature on aluminum bar was ignored in this work. Each experiment was repeated 3 times
at the same temperature and the same strain rate, and the average value was taken to ensure the accuracy of the
experimental data.
UHMWPE is a low-impedance material. In order to obtain a high signal-to-noise ratio [9], the bar materials
in the experiment were all made of 7A04 aluminum alloy. This bar material had an elastic modulus (E0) of 70
GPa, a density (ρ) of 2.81 g cm−3, and a wave velocity (C0) of 4991 m s−1. The impact bar, the incident bar and
the transmission bar had a diameter (d) of 14.5 mm and lengths of 400 mm, 1500 mm and 2000 mm,
respectively. Based on the strain signals εr(t) and εt(t) obtained from the strain gauges on the incident bar and the
transmission bar, the σE, εE and the nominal strain rate (e ) of the material during the deformation process were
calculated as follows [16]:
2C 0
e = - er (t ) , (6)
LS
t
eE = ò0 e dt, (7)

A0 E0
sE = et (t ) , (8)
AS

where AS and LS are the initial cross-sectional area and length of the test piece, respectively; and C0, A0 and E0
represent the elastic wave velocity, cross-sectional area and elastic modulus of the bar, respectively. The true
stress (σT) and the true strain (εT) corresponding to the test piece were calculated using equations (4)–(5).

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Quasi-static experiments

The purpose of quasi-static compression testing was to compare the compressive mechanical properties of
UHMWPE with different MWs. As shown in figure 2, the stress–strain curves of UHMWPE with MWs of 3, 6
and 9 million were obtained by aligning the static compression experimental data at strain rates of 0.001 s−1, 0.01
s−1, 0.1 s−1 at 25 °C. It can be seen that the three different molecular weight UHMWPE samples exhibited
similar stress–strain characteristics, namely, there was only a small linear elastic section, followed by a
distribution yield with no significant yield point, and then a strain hardening stage.

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Mater. Res. Express 6 (2019) 125370 K Zhang et al

Table 1. Comparison of compressive mechanical properties of UHMWPE

with different molecular weights.

Molecular Strain
weight rate Yield Elastic mod-
(million) (s−1) stress (MPa) ulus (MPa)

3 0.001 12.96±0.11 442.37±10.11

6 0.001 14.99±0.10 597.28±22.31
9 0.001 13.11±0.10 471.41±15.79
3 0.01 15.11±0.12 507.75±16.92
6 0.01 16.20±0.10 672.92±13.76
9 0.01 15.23±0.15 540.27±25.12
3 0.1 15.83±0.15 535.23±9.53
6 0.1 18.12±0.20 699.35±17.35
9 0.1 16.43±0.21 567.56±14.55

Figure 3. Comparison of test pieces before and after experimentation.

The elastic modulus and yield stress were extracted using the inverse method [17] and are summarized in
table 1. The result shows that the three MWs UHMWPE have obvious strain rate effect between 0.001–0.1 s−1,
and with the increase of strain rate, the yield stress and elastic modulus of UHMWPE increase. At the same strain
rate, the UHMWPE samples with a MW of 6 million had a greater yield stress and elastic modulus than that
either of the UHMWPE samples. The 3 and 9 million MW UHMWPE samples had a similar yield stress and
elastic modulus. This was because UHMWPE with a large MW should exhibit more excellent mechanical
properties under compressive stress. However, as the MW increases, the molecular segments are more likely to
entangle, reducing the compression resistance of UHMWPE [18].

3.2. Dynamic experiments

The quasi-static experiment shows that UHMWPE with MW of 6 million has more excellent compression
mechanical properties. And in engineering applications, the UHMWPE with MW of 6 million is mainly used.
Therefore, in this work, the 6 million MW UHMWPE samples were chosen for further examination and then the
dynamic compressive mechanical properties over the range from −40 °C to 100 °C were studied. Figure 3 is a
comparison of the test pieces before and after this test. The result shows that with the increase of strain rate, the
diameter and thickness of the specimen become larger and smaller after compression. Since grease was applied
to both ends of the test piece before the test, the two ends of the test piece were less impacted by the friction force
and the deformation was uniform.

3.2.1. Strain rate effects

In order to study the effects of strain rate on the compressive mechanical properties of UHMWPE, dynamic
compression tests of UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million was carried out using an SHPB device. The dynamic
compressive mechanical behavior of UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million at over the range from 1300 to 3300 s−1
was determined by controlling the pressure parameters of this device. Combined with the quasi-static
experimental data, a true stress–strain curve from 0.001 s−1 to 3300 s−1 was generated and is shown in figure 4.
The strain rate error in the figure did not exceed 100 s−1.

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Mater. Res. Express 6 (2019) 125370 K Zhang et al

Figure 4. True stress–strain curve of UHMWPE with a molecular weight of 6 million at different strain rates.

Figure 5. True stress–strain curve of UHMWPE with a molecular weight of 6 million at different temperatures at a strain rate of 2500
s−1.

The result shows that, similar to the quasi-static experiments, the elastic modulus and yield stress of
UHMWPE increased with increasing strain rate at high strain rates. Many researchers believe that this
phenomenon is related to the secondary molecular processes often occurring in polymers [19–21]. An increase
in the strain rate causes the UHMWPE chain to harden, thereby reducing the molecular mobility of the segment
and increasing the yield stress.
By comparing the slopes of the UHMWPE flow curves at different strain rates, it was found that the slope of
the UHMWPE flow curve changed little with increasing strain rate, indicating that the strain rate had little effect
on the strain hardening rate of UHMWPE.

3.2.2. Temperature effect

As a polymer, the effect of temperature on UHMWPE is of great interest. Figure 5 shows the true stress–strain
curves for UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million at a strain rate of 2500 s−1 at −40 °C, −10 °C, 25 °C, 50 °C, 70 °C,
and 100 °C, respectively.
Comparing the stress–strain curves of UHMWPE at different temperatures, it can be seen that the yield
stress of UHMWPE decreased with increasing temperature. This was because the UHMWPE chain becomes

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Mater. Res. Express 6 (2019) 125370 K Zhang et al

softer as the temperature increases, and the molecular chain mobility increases, resulting in a decreased yield
stress [21].
It can also be seen from figure 5 that the slope of the UHMWPE flow curve changes very little between 25 °C
and 100 °C. The slope of the flow curve shows a characteristic decreasing trend with decreasing temperature
between −40 °C and 25 °C. However, this overall change was small, indicating that temperature had little effect
on the strain hardening rate of UHMWPE.

3.3. Constitutive model

Due to the dynamic experimental conditions, the elastic phase of UHMWPE is difficult to reach at a constant
strain rate, and the measured elastic modulus is not accurate, making it difficult to the study the elastic modulus.
Therefore, the elastic phase of the material is ignored. It was found that the uniaxial compressive mechanical
behavior of the plastic phase of UHMWPE was very similar to that described by the J-C constitutive model.
Therefore, the uniaxial compressive mechanical behavior of the plastic phase of UHMWPE was described with
reference to the J-C constitutive model.
As a summary, based on the experimental data on UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million, a constitutive model
of the yield and plastic phases of this material was established. The mechanical behavior of UHMWPE at
different strain rates and different temperatures under uniaxial pressure was described and then applied to
various numerical simulations.

3.3.1. Yielding behavior

(1) Strain rate effect

Equation (9) is the J-C constitutive model [13]:

s = (A + BeP n)(1 + C ln e *)(1 - T *m) , (9)

where A is reference strain rate and initial yield stress at a reference temperature; B and n are the strain hardening
modulus and hardening index of the material, respectively; εP is the plastic strain; C is the material strain rate
strengthening parameter; e* = e /e 0 is a dimensionless strain rate; e 0 is the reference strain rate;
T * = (T - Tr ) / (Tr - Tm) is a homogeneous temperature, Tr is the reference temperature, Tm is the melting
temperature, and m is the temperature softening index.
25 °C was selected as the reference temperature. The yield stress of UHMWPE was studied at reference
temperature, i.e. T*=0, eP =0, equation (9) becomes:
sy = A (1 + C ln e *). (10)

The yield stress of UHMWPE and ln e * showed a nonlinear relationship. Therefore, based on the strain rate
correlation term at high-orders proposed by Huh & Kang [22], a strain rate correlation term in a cubic equation
was introduced to obtain the following equation (11):
sy = A (1 + C ln e * + D ln e *2 + E ln e *3) , (11)

where C, D, and E are material strain rate strengthening parameters. Different values can be obtained by selecting
different reference strain rates. The strain rate of 2500 s−1 was selected as the reference strain rate e 0 to calculate
other conditions. The yield stress of UHMWPE at different strain rates at 25 °C was fitted using equation (11).
The results are shown in figure 6.

(1) Temperature effect

Since the J-C constitutive model is a description of the mechanical properties of materials at high
temperatures, it cannot be used to describe the mechanical properties of UHMWPE at low temperatures. The
experimental results show that the increase of strain rate and the decrease of temperature have similar effect on
the yield stress of UHMWPE. Therefore, based on the strain rate enhancement effect, the temperature softening
constitutive equation of yield stress was derived at reference strain rate, i.e. e = e 0, eP =0, as shown in
equation (12).
sy = A (1 + F ln T* + G ln T*2) , (12)

T* = T /Tr , F, and G are material temperature softening parameters. The temperature is the thermodynamic
temperature in K. The yield stress data at different temperatures were then fitted using equation (12) at a
reference strain rate of 2500 s−1. The results are shown in figure 7.

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Mater. Res. Express 6 (2019) 125370 K Zhang et al

Figure 6. Comparison of theoretical and experimental results of strain rate enhancement on yield stress.

Figure 7. Comparison of theoretical and experimental results of temperature on yield stress.

3.3.2. Plastic stage

It was found that UHMWPE showed obvious strain hardening after entering the plastic stage, and the slope of
flow curve changes little under different temperature and strain rate. Based on the J-C constitutive model and
the strain hardening characteristics of the UHMWPE plastic stage, the constitutive model of the UHMWPE in
the plastic stage can be represented as
sp = sy + Bep n, (13)

where sp represents the plastic stress.Equation (13) was fitted using the stress–strain curves of the plastic phase at
25 °C and 2500 s−1, and these results are shown in figure 8. The plastic strain eP range from 0 to 0.2, and the
following results are also in this range.
A constitutive model of the plastic phase of UHMWPE can be obtained by combining equations (11), (12)
and ).
sp = A (1 + C ln e * + D ln e *2 + E ln e *3)(1 + F ln T* + G ln T*2) + Bep n, (14)
The values of parameters A, B, n, C, D, E, F, and G in equation (14) were obtained by fitting equations (11), (12)
and ) with experimental data, which are summarized in table 2.

3.3.3. Verification and analysis of constitutive model

From the above analysis, it can be seen that the modified constitutive model fits well with the theoretical value at
the reference temperature and strain rate. In order to verify the accuracy of the UHMWPE constitutive model,

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Mater. Res. Express 6 (2019) 125370 K Zhang et al

Figure 8. Comparison of theoretical results and experimental results of plastic stress and strain.

Table 2. Fitting parameters.

A (MPa) B n C D E F G

33.4508 23.48965 0.51592 0.15575 0.01666 5.88779E-4 2.15293 −3.14692

the experimental curves at strain rates of 1300 s−1, 2500 s−1 and 3300 s−1 at different temperatures were
compared with the theoretical values obtained using this constitutive model. The results are shown in figure 9.
It can be seen from figure 9 that the theoretical results of the yield stress at temperatures from −40 °C to
100 °C and strain rates from 1300 s−1 to 3300 s−1 were in good agreement with experimental results. The
theoretical values of the plastic phase stress in the range from 1300 s−1 to 3300 s−1 and 25 °C to 100 °C were close
to the experimental measurements. The experimental values of the plastic stress at −40 °C and −10 °C were
relatively small compared to calculated values, and the error was within 10%.

4. Conclusions

By comparing the stress–strain curves of UHMWPE with MWs of 3, 6 and 9 million in a quasi-static state, it was
found that the yield stress of UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million was greater than that of UHMWPE with a MW
of 3 or 9 million at the same strain rate. In applications requiring high compression resistance, UHMWPE with a
MW of 6 million had superior performance.
Comparing the stress–strain curves of UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million at different strain rates and
different temperatures, the results showed that the yield strength of UHMWPE increased with increasing strain
rate, and plots of the yield stress versus ln e * showed a nonlinear relationship at strain rates from 0.001 s−1 to
3300 s−1. The yield strength of UHMWPE decreased with increasing temperature, and this trend was more
prominent in the temperature range from −40 °C to 25 °C than that from 25 °C to 100 °C. However, the
temperature and strain rate had little effect on the strain hardening of UHMWPE.
The uniaxial compressive mechanical behavior of the plastic phase of UHMWPE was very similar to that
described by the J-C constitutive model. Therefore, the uniaxial compressive mechanical behavior of the plastic
phase of UHMWPE was described with reference to the J-C constitutive model. By modifying the J-C
constitutive equation, a constitutive equation for UHMWPE with a MW of 6 million at plasticity stage from
−40 °C to 100 °C and 0.001 s−1 to 3300 s−1 was obtained. Theoretical calculations using this model agreed well
with the measured experimental results. The proposed constitutive model and research method could also be
applied to other MWs UHMWPE. However, it is necessary to obtain its experimental constant by experiments
and fitting.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Mater. Res. Express 6 (2019) 125370 K Zhang et al

Figure 9. Plastic stress–strain curves at different strain rates and temperatures.

ORCID iDs

Kebin Zhang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5722-3147

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Mater. Res. Express 6 (2019) 125370 K Zhang et al

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