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Estimation of Slow Crack Growth Behavior in Polyethylene after Stepwise Isothermal Crystallization
Author(s) -
Haager Markus,
Pinter Gerald,
Lang Reinhold W.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/masy.200451334
Subject(s) - polyethylene , materials science , isothermal process , high density polyethylene , crystallization , thermodynamics , fracture (geology) , fracture mechanics , composite material , physics
Abstract The use of analytical methods to estimate the SCG resistance of PE pipe materials has been suggested due to the fact that the slow crack growth (SCG) behavior of polyethylene (PE) is governed by structural parameters such as molecular weight and side chains. In the research project presented here, the molecular structure of several commercially available polyethylene‐high density (PE‐HD) materials was analyzed using a modified stepwise isothermal segregation (SIS) technique and compared with results from fracture mechanics experiments. A good correlation between the SIS results and SCG rates was found. It turned out that the modified SIS technique is a fast and simple method and could be used to assess SCG resistance in PE.