Polymer Science and Analysis MATS545

by Dr. Igor Krupa, QAPCO Polymer Chair,

Center for Advanced Materials, QU

T +974 4403 5671

M +974 7778 9361
E-mail: igor.krupa@qu.edu.qa

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Class 6: Physics of solid polymers

.
i.) Types of mechanical deformation
ii.)Tensile deformation
iii.) Elastic and plastic behavior
iv.) Flexural and shear deformation
v.) Impact strength

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 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

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failure)
Basic types of material deformations

Unloaded Stretched Squeezed

(Tension) (Compression
)

Cut (Simple shear) Twisted (Torsional

shear) 4
 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

• Stress and strain: What are they and why are

they used instead of load and deformation?

• Elastic behavior: When loads are small, how much

deformation occurs? What materials deform least?

• Plastic behavior: At what point do dislocations

cause permanent deformation? What materials are
most resistant to permanent deformation?

• Toughness and ductility: What are they and how

do we measure them?

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 ELASTIC DEFORMATION
1. Initial 2. Small load 3. Unload

bonds
stretch

return to
initial

F

Elastic means reversible!

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 PLASTIC DEFORMATION
1. Initial 2. Small load 3. Unload

Plastic means permanent! linear linear

elastic elastic

plastic
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Tensile deformation: elastic, linear behavior

• Extension by stretching in one direction the simplest type of

deformation that can be used to explain key concepts in mechanics

Modulus of Elasticity, E:
(Young's modulus)

s=Ee
` Hooke's Law
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 ENGINEERING STRESS
• Tensile stress, s: • Shear stress, t:

Ft
s
Ao
original area
before loading Stress has units:
N/m2 or lb/in2

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 ENGINEERING STRAIN
• Tensile strain: • Lateral strain:
/2

Lo
wo
W0 is an initial width of sample
/2
L/2 L/2
• Shear strain:
/2

 = tan  Strain is always

dimensionless.
/2 - 

/2 /2
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 LINEAR ELASTIC PROPERTIES
• Modulus of Elasticity, E:
(also known as Young's modulus)

• Hooke's Law:
s=Ee
• Poisson's ratio, n:

metals: n ~ 0.33
ceramics: ~0.25
polymers: ~0.40
rubbers: ~ 0.50

Units:
E: [GPa] or [psi]
n: dimensionless 11
 OTHER ELASTIC PROPERTIES
t M
• Elastic Shear
modulus, G:
G simple
1  torsion
t=G test

M
• Elastic Bulk P
modulus, K:
P P
pressure
test: Init.
vol =Vo.
• Special relations for isotropic materials: Vol chg.
= DV
E E
G K
2(1  n) 3(1  2n)
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Tensile stress-strain test

13
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 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.
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Nonlinear Tensile deformation of polymers

In an undeformed
thermoplastic polymer
tensile sample,
(a) the polymer chains are
randomly oriented.
(b) When a stress is
applied, a neck
develops as chains
become aligned locally.
The neck continues to
grow until the chains in
the entire gage length
have aligned.
(c) The strength of the
polymer is increased

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Tensile deformation of thermoplastic polymers

Yield point
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 TENSILE RESPONSE

• Compare to responses of other polymers:

--brittle response (aligned, cross linked & networked case)
--plastic response (semi-crystalline case)
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Mechanical Properties of Polymers: Thermoplastics

T and Strain Rate: Thermoplastics

80 4°C

stress
Semi-crystalline Increasing strain rate
60 polymer: PMMA
20°C
s, MPa

(Plexiglas)
40 40°C
20
Increasing temperature
60°C
0
0 0.1 0.2 e 0.3 strain
• Decreasing T • Increasing strain rate
-- increases E -- same effects as
-- increases tensile strength decreasing T. 18
-- decreases elongation
 Effect of Temperature on the Stress-strain
Curve for Cellulose Acetate

The large drop in strength and the large increase in ductility with a relatively small
increase in temperature.
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 Mechanical Behavior of Polymers

Behavior of polymers as a function of temperature and (a) degree of crystallinity and (b) cross-
linking. The combined elastic and viscous behavior of polymers is known as viscoelasticity. 20
 Modulus (Young 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.
• Hook’s law s=Ee
• 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.
• Shear Modulus used to express the resistance to shear or torsion. 21
 YOUNG’S MODULI: COMPARISON
Graphite
Metals Composites
Ceramics Polymers
Alloys /fibers
Semicond
1200
1000 Diamond
800
600
Si carbide
400 Tungsten Al oxide Carbon fibers only
Molybdenum Si nitride
E(GPa) 200
Steel, Ni
Tantalum <111>
Si crystal
CFRE(|| fibers)*
Platinum
Cu alloys <100> Aramid fibers only
100 Zinc, Ti
80 Silver, Gold Glass-soda AFRE(|| fibers)*
Aluminum Glass fibers only
60
Magnesium, GFRE(|| fibers)*
40 Tin
Concrete

109 Pa 20 GFRE*
CFRE*
Graphite GFRE( fibers)*
10
8 CFRE( fibers)*
6 AFRE( fibers)*
Polyester
4 PET
PS
PC Epoxy only
2
PP
1 HDPE
0.8
0.6 Wood( grain)
PTFE
0.4

0.2 LDPE
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 YIELD STRENGTH, sy
• Stress at which noticeable plastic deformation has
occurred.
when ep = 0.002
tensile stress, s
sy

engineering strain, e
ep = 0.002
(plastic strain, elongation at yield)
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YIELD STRENGTH: COMPARISON

sy(ceramics)
>>sy(metals)
>> sy(polymers)

Room T values
Based on data in Table B4,
Callister 6e.
a = annealed
hr = hot rolled
ag = aged
cd = cold drawn
cw = cold worked
qt = quenched & tempered

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 The Strength (stress at break)
• Maximum possible engineering stress in tension.

• Metals: occurs when noticeable necking starts.

• Ceramics: occurs when crack propagation starts.
• Polymers: occurs when polymer backbones are
aligned and about to break.
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The Strength (stress at break)

• 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.

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TENSILE STRENGTH: COMPARISON

TS(ceram)
~TS(met)
~ TS(comp)
>> TS(poly)
Room T values
Based on data in Table B4,
Callister 6e.
a = annealed
hr = hot rolled
ag = aged
cd = cold drawn
cw = cold worked
qt = quenched & tempered
AFRE, GFRE, & CFRE =
aramid, glass, & carbon
fiber-reinforced epoxy
composites, with 60 vol%
fibers.
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 DUCTILITY, %EL
L f  Lo
• Plastic tensile strain at failure: %EL  x100
Lo

Ao  A f
• Another ductility measure: %AR  x100
Ao
• Note: %AR and %EL are often comparable.
--Reason: crystal slip does not change material volume.
--%AR > %EL possible if internal voids form in neck.
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 TOUGHNESS
• Energy to break a unit volume of material
• Approximate by the area under the stress-strain
curve.
Engineering smaller toughness (ceramics)
tensile larger toughness
stress, s (metals, PMCs)

smaller toughness-
unreinforced
polymers

Engineering tensile strain, e

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 Compressive stress
• 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.

stress
Materials where compressive strength is important deformation
• concrete
• bones
• teeth implant 30
 Shear 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 31

An example of shear failure
simple shear, e.g. during cutting .
 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

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 Impact strength

Charpy test configuration

H0

H1

Apparatus to measure impact strength

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Izod test configuration
Impact strength

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 Impact Strength
Small changes in temperature
can have a significant effect on
impact strength

Effect of temperature on the impact

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strength of various plastics.
 HARDNESS
• Resistance to permanently indenting the surface.
• Large hardness means:
--resistance to plastic deformation or cracking in
compression.
--better wear properties.

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 Thermal Expansion
Materials change size when temperature
is changed
Tinitial
 initial
Tfinal > Tinitial
Tfinal
 final

 final   initial
 α (Tfinal  Tinitial )
 initial
linear coefficient of
thermal expansion (1/K or 1/°C)

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Thermomechanical analysis (TMA)

Most solid materials expand upon heating and

contract when cooled. Coefficient of thermal
expansion () is a useful engineering quantity:
 = (dL/dT)/Lo
The linear coefficient
of thermal expansion The volumetric coefficient
of thermal expansion

Thermomechanical Analysis (TMA) is the study of

the relationships between a sample’s length (volume)
and its temperature.
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 Thermal expansion coefficient
The expansion and contraction of materials must be considered when designing large
structures: buildings, bridges, pipelines, rail tracks…

Thermal expansion of long continuous sections of rail tracks

is the driving force for rail buckling. Expansion joint in a road
(100 km->100C
bridge used to avoid damage
->20 cm
-6
Steel: α =13x10 / C0 from thermal expansion.
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Aluminum: α =24x10-6/0C