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An anomaly in the necking behavior of polyethylene
Author(s) -
Gedde U. W.,
Jansson J. F.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.760190204
Subject(s) - necking , materials science , polyethylene , composite material , branching (polymer chemistry) , deformation (meteorology) , ultimate tensile strength , stress (linguistics) , creep , fracture (geology) , ultra high molecular weight polyethylene , philosophy , linguistics
Tensile creep measurements at constant load on nonoriented polyethylene have shown a marked transition at a certain stress level from a neck formation followed by instantaneous fracture to the formation of a neck which resists fracture for a considerable time. The transition, which shifts towards shorter time and higher nominal stress with increasing molecular weight, has been studied for 16 polyethylenes of different molecular weights, degrees of branching and crystalline structures. The marked. transition has only been observed for high density polyethylene of high molecular weight. Deformation measurements show a more distinct necking for the high density than for the medium density polyethylenes. This is consistent with current molecular deformation theories. A hypothesis for the transition is proposed based on the distinctness of the neck process in the high density polyethylene and the large difference in strength between the spherulitic structure and the fibrillar structure. The dependence of the transition on molecular weight is expected since the number of tic chains incrcrtses with increasing molecular weight.