AP3113 Laboratory Report

Mechanical properties of polymer -

the tensile test

Chan Long Yin

SID:54051736
Introduction
This experiment is a tensile test to test two materials,
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polyethylene (LLDPE). In
tensile test, grips are attached to the end of the sample bar and pulled
apart at a constant speed. Then, the sample will be pulled until it
breaks into two pieces. After that, elongation of the material and the
corresponding load are monitored and then we can obtain
stress/strain curve using the data. From the curve, we can know the
yield strength, tensile strength, fracture strength and ductility of the
materials.

Procedure
PMMA and LLDPE samples are used in the tensile test. However,
only crosshead travel speeds of 20 and 50mm/min are chosen in the
experiment. The other details are written in the lab manual.

Result
Dimensions of samples
Thickness(mm) Width(mm) Length Final
Lo(mm) Length
Lf(mm)
PMMA(20mm/min) 3.26 12.69 56 58
PMMA(50mm/min) 3.26 12.69 56 68
PE(20mm/min) 3.23 12.07 56 258
PE(50mm/min) 3.25 12.3 56 95
Raw load vs displacement data

strain
strain
PMMA(20mm/min) 2/56=0.04
PMMA(50mm/min) 12/56=0.21
PE(20mm/min) 258/56=4.61
PE(50mm/min) 39/56=0.70
From the strain/stress curve,
elastic modulus of PMMA(20mm/min) = 1.5
elastic modulus of PMMA(50mm/min) = 2.56
Since the curves of true and engineering of LLDPE are different, we get different
elastic modulus.
From the true strain/stress curve,
elastic modulus of LLDPE(20mm/min) =2.8
elastic modulus of LLDPE(50mm/min) =1.4
From the engineering strain/stress curve,
elastic modulus of LLDPE(20mm/min) =13
elastic modulus of LLDPE(50mm/min) =8.42

Discussion
1. The slope of LLDPE is higher then the slope of PMMA if using crosshead travel
speeds of 20mm/min. But the slope of LLDPE is lower then the slope of PMMA if
using crosshead travel speeds of 50mm/min.

2. The true and engineering curve of PMMA are almost same. But the true and
engineering curve of LLDPE are not same. The slope of engineering curve of both
20mm/min and 50 mm/min are higher.