EBB 220/3

FAILURE IN POLYMERS
DR AZURA A.RASHID
Room 2.19
School of Materials And Mineral Resources Engineering,
Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, P. Pinang
Malaysia

Importance of mechanical properties of materials

in engineering

Need to acquire knowledge of the properties of materials

The correct selection of a material for a given application.

Mechanical properties data were used to predict the response

of materials under mechanical loads.

Expressed in terms of forces which may deform materials or

even cause them to fail completely.

To avoid failure and keep deformation under control so the

individual system components remain functional as parts of a
whole need a various considerations:

Is stiffness / rigidity important? (i.e. minimum deformation under

a given load)

Is strength essential? (for maximum tolerance of loads before

failure)

The questions we may have to ask are:

What is the nature of the load?

Continuous and uniform or rising steadily:

IMPACT (e.g. hammering action, accidental drop)- Alternating (periodic application

of a force):

FATIGUE (e.g. vibration, rotation in loaded components)

The geometry of the loaded component can be designed to deal with

these conditions.

The physical nature of the material has to ensure that the component
can survive in service.

Cost and component weight when evaluating and selecting materials,

with the use of indices such as:

Modulus-to-density ratio

design for stiffness, in weight-critical applications example: an aircraft

Property-to-cost ratio

design for stiffness and strength where low overall price is important
example: childrens toys, non-critical parts of home appliances

Fundamental concepts for mechanical properties

Below are some terms we find in dealing with materials in

relation to structural applications:

Stress

Strength

Strain

Stress-strain relationships

Modulus

Concept of deformation:

Deformations can be produced by forces which cause a body

to be stretched, compressed, twisted or sheared.

These forces can also be combined to produce more complex

types of deformation for example : flexural.

Unloaded

Cut (Simple
shear)

Stretched
(Tension)

Squeezed
(Compression)

Twisted
(Torsional shear)

Extension by stretching in one direction the simplest type of

deformation that can be used to explain key concepts in
mechanics

Rectangular specimens
subjected to different loads
in tensile mode

Stress

Stress is the force exerted on a body per unit cross sectional area.

By stretching a body using a force (the force is weight), the tensile

stress (in the direction of elongation)

If the force applied is 100 N (Newtons), and the cross sectional area
measures 0.0004 m2 (square metres), the stress becomes

or 250 KN/m2, or 0.25 MN/m2. If the force doubles (200 N), stress will
increase accordingly to 500 kN/m2.

We could also double the level of stress by reducing the cross sectional
area to half of its original value, i.e. to 0.0002 m2.

If the same weights were placed on the rectangular specimens to

cause a contraction in the longitudinal direction the resulting
stress would be called compressive stress.

The other common type of stress is shear stress.

This relates to the force which distorts rather than extends a body
example where a solid section is sheared,

Shear forces can also result in failure.

Cylindrical specimen subjected to

simple shear, e.g. during cutting.

Everyday example of shear failure

Strength

Concept of strength the influence of the cross-sectional area on

the force which ultimately causes the material to fail.

Strength defined the highest stress that a material can withstand

before it completely fails to perform structurally.

If the applied force is tensile (stretch) the ultimate stress is

known as tensile strength (i.e., maximum tensile stress that the
material can tolerate).

Others types of strength are related to the mode of the applied force
compressive, shear, torsional and flexural.

Use the following expressions:

A strong material can withstand a very high force per

unit area before it fails.

A weak material markedly deteriorates or fails at

relatively low levels of applied forces.

Strain

To understand the effect of specimen size on the amount of

deformation resulting from force use the concept of strain.

Strain the change in one dimension produced as a result of an

applied force and it is expressed as the ratio of the amount of
deformation to the samples original dimension.

In the case of tension,

Strain is often expressed as % i.e. the strain multiplied by 100.

Assuming the force applied causes the original

length of 0.5 m to extent to a new length of 0.9 m
then the strain becomes

Stress-strain relationship (below failure conditions)

Materials deform
inelastically.

During elastic deformation the

stress in a body is directly related
to the strain, and vice-versa.

elastically

or

When the force is removed (i.e. when

stress becomes zero) then strain
returns to zero.

The plot of stress against strain

produces a straight line

the stress can

decreased, and

be

increased

stress and strain are

proportional to each other.

or

always

Linear elastic stressstrain relationship

For ductile materials increasing the stress above a certain limit will
give rise to inelastic deformations, known as yielding.

when the stress is removed the strain does not return to zero (and the
original shape is not fully restored)

some deformation has permanently set in.

The stress level at which this occurs is referred to as the yield stress
or yield point.

The applied force takes the material

beyond the linear elastic region.
Continued loading causes permanent
deformation.

The amount of permanent

deformation is evident after the
force applied is removed.

Modulus

The relationship between stress and strain is expressed in terms of a property

called the Modulus (or Young Modulus).

The linear portion of the stress-strain curve can be used to determine the
modulus correspond to the slope of the curve before the yield point, up to
which all deformation is elastic and recoverable.

In other words,

The slope (modulus) at any point in the linear portion of the line gives the
same result.

The modulus denotes stiffness or rigidity for any kind of applied load, i.e.
tension, compression or shear.

Stiff materials have a high modulus the deformation (strain) resulting from the
applied force (stress) is low.

Flexible materials have a low modulus undergo large deformations with relatively
low applied forces.

Modulus of Elasticity for materials deformed in tension or compression.

Modulus of Rigidity used to express the resistance to shear or torsion.

Assessment of mechanical properties

The simple tests used to measure mechanical properties

are described in standard test methods.

The most widely used are the ASTM tests nowadays

these are gradually being replaced by ISO procedures

The most common types of test performed on plastic

materials:
Tensile

properties
Flexural properties
Impact strength

Tensile properties

Tensile properties are determined using dumbbell-shaped specimens.

The type defined in the ASTM D-638 standard is as shown in the diagram
below:

In a tensile experiment the specimen is gripped firmly by mechanical jaws at

the wide portion on either side and extended by means of a tensile testing
machine

The pulling is normally carried out at a constant rate of 0.50, 5.0 and 50
cm/min, depending on the type of plastic being tested.

The low speeds to test rigid materials;

the higher speeds to test flexible materials.

Calculated entities:

Tensile stress measured the

force at any time divided by the
original cross sectional area of
the waist portion.

Tensile strain the ratio of the

difference in length between the
length marked by the gauge
marks and the original length,

Yield strength sY ultimate

tensile strength (strength value
prior to fracture), st

Elastic modulus, E ultimate

elongation (strain value at
fracture), et

Typical stress-strain curves for a brittle

material (1) and a ductile material (2)

*** Note that in the diagram above yield stress is only specified for the ductile material
as the brittle material fails catastrophically without reaching the yielding conditions.

Flexural properties

Flexural properties are important in assessing the resistance of materials to

bending.

A typical experimental set-up is as the one shown in the schematic below:

Flexural test
experimental set-up

Specimen dimensions may vary but the use of bars with a cross section
measuring 1.27 0.32 cm and span of 5.0 cm.

For these standard specimens a loading rate of 0.127 cm (0.05 in/min) is

normally used.

Calculated entities:

The maximum stress caused by

bending is calculated by the
following formula:

where:

S = stress (N/m2)
F = load or force at break or
at yield (N)
L = span of specimen
between supports (m)
b = width (m)
d = thickness (m)

The maximum strain due to

bending (compression and tensile
is estimated by:

where:
e = strain (dimensionless i.e.,
no units)
D = deflection at the centre of
the beam (m) see
schematic below
d = thickness (m)
L = specimens length of span
between supports (m)

If the load recorded corresponds to the

value at failure occurs S
corresponds to the flexural strength.
The

flexural modulus from the recorded load (F)

and deflection (D) is:

Impact strength

The energy used by the pendulum hammer to fracture the specimen (see
diagram) is given by the reduction in the height of the hammer in its swing
after fracturing the specimen

Where:

m = mass of pendulum hammer

g = acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s2)
ho = initial height of pendulum hammer (m)
hf = height of the pendulum hammer after fracturing specimen

The specimen geometry is taken into account in terms of the cross-sectional

area which has undergone fracture.

The impact strength is defined as the energy divided by the area

joules/m2.

Note: Because the distance from the notch tip to the edge of the specimen
is constant, sometimes the impact strength is expressed as the energy to
fracture per unit thickness.

Charpy test configuration

Apparatus to measure impact strength

Izod test configuration

Deformation of polymers

Permanent deformations Yielding

Mechanical properties at the surface Hardness,

Friction, Wear

Special issues in designing with polymers Creep

and Stress Relaxation

Factors that determine the resistance of polymeric

components to deformation

Enhancement of the resistance of polymers to

deformation

Yielding of polymers

Yielding is a phenomenon closely related to the onset of permanent

deformation, i.e. an irreversible process.

This is due to molecular chains unfolding and becoming aligned in

the direction of the applied load.

Yielding under a tensile load is shown below

The progress of the yielding process for a

specimen under tension
A: prior to loading
B: onset of necking in the waist
region after the yield point
C: neck propagation ("cold drawing")
D: neck extension and fracture

In non-crystalline (amorphous) polymers yielding occurs by

molecular uncoiling.

At the yield point a neck forms which is followed by an overall

drop in stress.

At the neck region the folded chains become aligned.

Macroscopically because of the thinning down in cross section,

the stress rises locally and any deformation occurs preferentially there.

This helps the neck propagate along the waist of the specimen under
a steady load a process known as cold drawing

Any deformation produced beyond the yield point is not

recoverable.

In a crystalline polymer

the unfolding of chains begins in the amorphous regions between the

lamellae of the crystals.

this is followed by breaking-up and alignment of crystals

Alignment of molecular chains in polymer crystals; progress A-D same

as aforementioned

Points to note:

Yielding is a
phenomenon which is
responsible for ductile
deformations,

as opposed to brittle
fracture.

the degree of ductility of

a polymer often
controlled by a number
of variables

Variable

Change

Typical
effect on
ductility

Temperature

Strain rate

Molecular
weight

Chain
branching

Crystallinity

Crosslinking

Particulate
fillers

Fibrous
reinforcement

The deformation behaviour of polymers is time and temperature dependent,

specimen may be ductile or brittle, according to the testing conditions: strain rate and
temperature.

If the temperature is sufficiently high and/or the strain rate is slow enough

the specimen is ductile and will yield extensively.

The yield stress and stiffness increase and ductility decreases with lowering the
temperature or increasing the strain rate.

Under extreme strain rates, as under impact conditions specimen may be unable to
undergo cold drawing and become brittle

Tensile stress-strain behaviour at

high strain rate and/or low
temperature(A); low strain rate
and/or high temperature (B)

Highly crosslinked polymers (thermosets) are typically brittle materials since chain
movement is severely restricted, they do not usually yield, but fail in a brittle manner.

Hardness, Friction & Wear

These three surface-related properties are less frequently dealt with

in theoretical interpretations than fundamental properties such as
modulus, viscoelasticity and yielding,

but they are very important in applications that involve sliding

contact and frictional motions.

Gears, bearings, piston rings and seals are examples of

applications where these properties are of great significance.

The properties are:

Hardness
Friction
Wear

Hardness

Hardness more appropriately

described as resistance to
abrasion, cutting, machining or
scratching.

Related to fundamental bulk

properties such as yield
strength and modulus.

Standardized techniques to
measure hardness based on
the degree of penetration into a
specimen by hard indenters of
conical or spherical shape.

The hardness test

Friction

Friction is the resistance offered by a surface to the relative motion of objects in contact.

The frictional force opposing movement is described by the formula

The coefficient of friction, m, is a property of the material which determines its

resistance to sliding action against another surface.

Friction arises from temporary adhesive contacts between the two surfaces

It is overcome through the rupture of these contacts by local plastic deformations.

Compressive yield strength & shear strength of the contacting materials are important in friction
abrasion.

In viscoelastic polymers local rises in temperature resulting from shearing at higher

loads and sliding velocities cause the coefficient to increase.

In bearing applications where a metal and a thermoplastic are in contact, increases in

pressure and the sliding velocity will increase m and limited by the conditions during
service.

The friction performance of polymers varies extensively, the value of m ranging from 0.2
to 0.7 and increasing surface roughness tends to increase friction.

Wear

Wear occurs when material is lost from the interface between the contact
surfaces during relative motion.

At low temperatures primary mechanism for wear damage is adhesive

wear, whereby fine particles are removed from the surface.

Since polymers overheat through friction more severe damage can result
as larger volumes of locally melted material can be extracted from the
surface.

Temperature is also expected to adversely affect the wear rates.

High-strength ductile engineering thermoplastics such as nylon and acetal,

offer good wear performance can be further improved with the addition of
internal lubricants or reinforcing additives

Fibre reinforcements (e.g., glass fabric) and mineral fillers (e.g., calcium
carbonate (CaCO3) may be compounded into the base polymers to improve
their load-carrying capacity but can increase friction and give rise to more
detrimental abrasive wear.

Very high molecular weights have a positive effect in reducing wear

UHMWPE (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene).

Creep & Stress relaxation

A serious challenge when designing products to be

made from polymeric materials is the prediction of
performance over long periods of time.

The amount of deformation after short or long term

loading has to be known reasonably accurately in
advance, i.e. at the design stage.

During long term service, creep and stress relaxation

are the main deformation mechanisms that can be
cause for concern.

Creep

Creep phenomena are particularly common in

polymers.

Creep occurs when a force is continuously applied

on a component causing it to deform gradually.

For polymers,

the delayed response of polymer chains during

deformations cause creep behaviour

Deformation stops when the initially folded chains

reach a new equilibrium configuration (i.e. slightly
stretched).

This deformation is recoverable after the load is

removed,

but recovery takes place slowly with the chains

retracting by folding back to their initial state.

The rate at which polymers creep depends not only

on the load, but also on temperature.

In general, a loaded component creeps faster at

higher temperatures.

Time dependence

If a load is slowly applied to a polymeric body the chains in the

polymer have time to unfold and stretch.

There are three main ways of presenting creep data to be

presented as:
1.

Creep curves Strain versus the logarithm of time elapsed (various

curves at constant load, or stress):

2.

Isochronous curves Stress versus strain (various curves at constant

time of duration of load):

3.

Isometric curves Stress versus the logarithm of elapsed time (various

curves at constant strain values):

Temperature dependence

The temperature at which a polymeric body is loaded very important to its

mechanical behaviour.

Low temperatures imply low internal energy within the molecules.

Polymer chains are less energetic (more sluggish) and also more reluctant to move
under a force.

Makes it more difficult for them to unfold their ability to undergo large deformations
is suppressed.

In this state polymers are more likely to resist the applied load and stiffer.

Higher temperatures the energy level of chains favours their movement, so

unfolding is easier.

A given amount of deformation requires a lower force and a force of a given

magnitude produces a larger deformation.

Rising temperature and above the glass transition temperature, Tg, solid polymers
become softer and progress through the rubbery state to finally become a viscous
melt capable of flow.

The term "rubbery" refers to the ability to deform sluggishly, but the
deformations recover when the load is removed.

The term "glassy relates to the hardness, stiffness and brittleness of the
polymer at low temperatures.

 The diagram below describes the variation of the deformability of

polymers over a wide range of temperatures:

Typical effect of temperature on the deformability (reverse of

stiffness / rigidity) of a polymer

Stress Relaxation

Stress relaxation is almost exclusively a

characteristic of polymeric materials and is
a consequence of delayed molecular
motions as in creep.

stress relaxation occurs when

deformation
manifested

(or strain) is constant and

by a reduction in the force

(stress) required to maintain a constant
deformation.

Failure in Polymers
1.

Modes of mechanical failure

2.

Types of mechanical failure: Creep

Rupture, Fatigue, Impact

3.

Factors that determine the mode of

failure of polymers

4.

Enhancement of the resistance of

polymers to failure

Modes of Mechanical Failures

Failure analysis and prevention important functions to all of the
engineering disciplines.

The materials engineer plays a lead role in the analysis of

failures, whether a component or product fails in service or if
failure occurs in manufacturing or during production processing.
Must determine the cause of failure to prevent future occurrence,
and/or to improve the performance of the device, component or
structure.
Failure in a product implies the product no longer functions
satisfactorily.
Mechanical failure in polymer materials caused by :
1. Excessive deformation
2. Ductile failure
3. Brittle failure
4. Crazing

1.

Excessive deformation

Very large deformations are possible in low-modulus polymers are

able to accommodate large strains before failure.

Such deformations could occur without fracture design features and

other considerations might only tolerate deformations to a prescribed
ceiling value.

The case in rubbery thermoplastics, such as flexible PVC or EVA, for

pressurized tubing.

2.

Ductile failure

Encountered in materials that are able to undergo large-scale

irreversible plastic deformation under loading, known as yielding,
before fracturing.

Yielding marks the onset of failure setting the upper limit to stress in
service to be below the yield point is common practice.

Estimate loading conditions likely to cause yielding (yield criteria), in

order to design components with a view to avoid it in service.

3.

Brittle failure

This is a type of failure involves low strains accompanied by negligible

permanent deformation and is frequently characterized by "clean"
fracture surfaces.

It occurs in components that contain geometrical discontinuities that

act as stress concentrations.

These physical features the effect of locally raising stress. Effective

stress concentrating discontinuities are usually in the form of

cracks,
badly distributed or
oversized additive particulates,
impurities etc.

Contrary to ductile failures plastic deformation provides a warning

signal for the ultimate fracture,

Brittle failures can occur without prior warning, except for the formation
of crazes, as in glassy thermoplastics.

Because of this design specifications based on fracture strength data

tend to be conservative (e.g., will incorporate very large safety margins)
with respect to the maximum stress levels allowed relative to the
strength.

4.

Crazing

Crazing is a phenomenon that often occurs in glassy polymers

before yielding, i.e. for deformation at temperatures below the
glass transition.

It occurs at a strain level which is below the level required for

brittle fracture and although undesirable, this type of "failure" is not
catastrophic.

Crazing is often observed in highly strained regions during

bending.

Crazes are made up of microcavities whose surfaces are joined by

highly oriented, or fibrillar, material.

They are initiated near structural discontinuities, such as impurities,

and are collectively visible at the strained surface because they
become large enough to reflect light.

Crazes are not cracks and can continue to sustain loads after they are
formed.

However, they can transform into cracks via the breakage of the fibrils.

A short film illustrates tensile tests on plastics. The

transparent sample is polystyrene and shows the
formation of crazes, as the horizontal lines across
the width of the specimen before fracture.

Types of Failures
Because of the viscoelastic character of polymers no failure can
be described

entirely ductile or
entirely brittle.
The proportion of each type of fracture involved in polymer failure
depends on many factors:
the speed (and time) of loading and
the temperature of the sample.
The type of stress, for instance, whether static or dynamic
(fluctuating), determine the mode of failure.
Below are links to the most common of rupture:
Creep Rupture
Fatigue Failure
Impact Failure

Creep rupture

Creep rupture is the culmination in the deformation process of creep.

The result of creep is a slow increase in deformation, which ultimately leads to

fracture when the polymer chains can no longer accommodate the load.

The level of stress,

the service temperature,
the component geometry,
the nature of the material and
any defects induced by the fabrication process

** are all decisive factors in determining the time taken for fracture to occur.

Although the precise details of the failure mechanism that precedes rupture in
creep are unclear it is known that locally,

stress reaches high enough levels for microcracks to form.

These propagate in a slow stable manner, gradually reducing their ability to sustain
the load.

It is worth noting that the ultimate failure in creep may be preceded by shear yielding,
i.e. the creation of a neck, or by crazing.

These are good indicators that failure is in progress and that fracture is following. In
other cases, rupture can take place without any signs of warning.

Fatigue failure

Fatigue is a failure process which a crack grows as a result of cyclic

loading.

This type of loading involves stresses that alternate between high

and low values over time.

The stress values may be entirely positive (tensile), entirely negative

(compressive), or a combination of the two (see diagram).

Cyclic stress that gives rise to fatigue in materials

However, the effect of fatigue increases with higher tensile & Cyclic stress that
gives rise to fatigue in materials

Once a crack is initiated it propagates by small steps during the tensile

portion of a stress cycle.

The crack grows slowly but steadily up to the point where the remaining
area of the parts section is unable to support the load.

The subsequent failure is invariably brittle.

Failure prediction

The stresses involved in fatigue are much lower than the value required to
cause outright failure.

Final failure is only possible by cumulative damage.

The initial crack from which the damage starts is either

pre-existing (i.e., mechanically generated or fabrication imperfection) or

initiated by high local stress at weak regions in the material.

A suitably large flaw or weak enough region lies in an adequately stressed

region of loaded components may vary according to

flaw density (number of flaws per unit volume)

component size
batch
other factors which make the prediction of fatigue failure in terms of time or
number of cycles subject to the mathematical laws of probability.

The nature of stress in fatigue

The amplitude of the stress the variation in stress between the

maximum and minimum values, affects the speed of propagation of
the crack, because:

it determines the amount by which a crack makes a step

forward during each stress cycle.

higher stress amplitudes with a high positive mean stress

decrease the time, or cycles, to failure.

The frequency of the stress stress alternates between maximum

and minimum, also affects the time to failure as it causes the steplike propagation of the crack to advance more rapidly.

Parameters in cyclic (alternating) stress

The fatigue in polymers is subject to complications because of

viscoelasticity in polymers.

This causes damping of the alternating load, a process which itself

creates heat.

This heat is dissipated with difficulty because of the generally low

thermal conductivity of the polymers.

The rate of heat production due to an increase in stress amplitude

and/or frequency becomes lower than the rate of heat dissipation, and
so stored heat causes the temperature in the material to rise.

At sufficiently high temperatures the polymer may overheat and fail not
through fatigue but rather through creep or heat softening,

whereby the modulus decreases to the extent that the material is

unsuitable for its intended use.

Impact failure

The type of loading that constitutes an impact is what could be

described as a "knock" or "blow",

a force applied very fast, capable of causing failure by brittle

fracture.

Is achieved is through the transfer of the energy of impact to

defects in the structure then grow rapidly.

Accidental occurrence of impact makes resistance to this type of

abuse an important one especially for materials used in
critical applications.

Impact strength is the typical parameter quoted in order to

characterize resistance to impact.

However the conditions under which impact is experienced are

crucial to the relevance of this data.

In general, resistance to fracture through impact is affected by the following:

Variable

Change

Typical effect on
ductility

Amount/size of notchlike defects

Mass of impacting
body

Fibrous reinforcement

Temperature
Strain rate (speed of
impact)

Factors relevant to the ductility of polymers have the same effect on impact
resistance the time and temperature dependence of polymers limit the
ability of chains to "give" under impact (very high strain rate) conditions by
undergoing compensating molecular motion.

An important exception to the ductility and impact toughness is use of fibre

reinforcement in composites, where impact strength is improved.

the energy of impact is expended on diverting the crack along the fibrematrix interface.

Although some debonding of fibres occurs in the process catastrophic

failure is largely prevented.

The factors that increase the possibility of embrittlement lead to decreases

in impact strength.

The presence of notches lowers the energy requirements of fracture by

highly concentrating the stress of impact locally stress
concentrations.

The size and shape of the notch (i.e., whether blunt or sharp) is critical
in determining the impact strength obtained from tests.

Polymers such as rigid PVC, polycarbonate, some members of the

polyamide family, polymethyl methacrylate (acrylic) significantly
affected by the notch condition and are often described as notch
sensitive.

Factors that affect the mode of polymer Failure

The following factors affect polymer fracture behavior adversely by

promoting the brittle type of mechanism:
1.
2.
3.

Loading Conditions
Environmental
Material structure aspects

1. Loading conditions

Very fast loading as in the case of impacts

Triaxiality of stress: the development of stresses in more
directions relative to the one from which a load is applied

triaxial stresses promote brittle failure in materials.

this 3D type of stress system appears at discontinuities

(stress concentrations) within a component.

2. Environmental

Low temperature

can bring a transition in fracture mode from ductile to brittle experienced

by a material when the temperature falls below a point known as the
ductile-brittle transition temperature, TDB.

Deterioration of physical properties as a result of chemical changes to

molecular structure through

Oxidation: reactions with substances such as oxidizing acids and water

moisture

Weathering: the combined effect of exposure to u.v. radiation and oxygen

Degradation due to exposure to excessive heat, particularly in the presence

of oxygen

Environmental Stress Cracking: ingress to defect sites within the material of

normally non-aggressive liquids (mostly organic) that promote fracture at low
levels of stress and over short periods of time.

3. Material structure aspects

Discontinuous microstructure arising from the presence of:

particulate additives

crystallinity in the polymer

Molecular weight toughness generally increases with molecular

weight.

Improving the resistance of polymers to failures

To minimize the risk of catastrophic failure a material needs to be tough as

well as ductile.

The mechanical design has a role in avoiding the incorporation of features

that promote the likelihood of brittle fracture.

The following guidelines to identify the steps to enhance the failure

resistance of polymers in service:
1.
2.
3.

1.

Design considerations
Material Selection
Material Modification

Design considerations

Design for a particular set of stress conditions anticipated in service

example:

attention to section thicknesses, and

utilisation of material data obtained under conditions relevant to service

(creep, fatigue, impact)

Elimination of the majority of stress-concentrating design features

abrupt changes in section, holes, notches

2.

Material Selection

Should be based structural aspects affecting failure, as well as physical

and chemical issues arising from the use of polymers in a particular
environment such as the effect of temperature, oxidants and aggressive
liquids.

Given that the most important properties affecting resistance to brittle

fracture are toughness and ductility,

key material data to be used in design in order to minimise the likelihood of

brittle fracture should include:

ductility indicators (e.g., energy absorption values obtained directly by

measuring the area under load-extension curves obtained in tensile
tests which are carried out to failure (see schematic).

Energy absorption values derived from impact tests

Energy absorbed during extension

3.

Material Modification

Toughening through microstructural modification of thermoplastics

Based on the principle that the energy which contributes to brittle

fracture can be dissipated by localized yielding ahead of the crack tip
possible to produce toughened thermoplastic polymers by the
incorporation of a partially compatible rubbery phase.

This is typically accomplished:

(a) at the polymerisation stage by copolymerisation, and by

(b) direct blending (e.g. mixing acrylic rubber with PVC or with PBT.

The success of the toughening of thermoplastics by rubber

modification depends on:

the rubber existing as well dispersed discrete particles

the interfacial adhesion between the thermoplastic matrix and the rubber
being at an optimum level (i.e., neither too strong nor too weak)

the glass transition temperature of the rubber phase lower than the
service temperature.

Rubber toughening works by lowering the average yield stress, it

facilitates the occurrence of plastic deformation.

Example of the exams question

The failures of polymeric materials can be affect

by a few factors. Discuss two of this factors.
failure?

There are a few types of failures in polymeric

materials such as creep rupture, fatigue and
impact. Based on your understanding, discuss
two of this mechanical failures and how this
failures can be describe as brittle or ductile
deformation