Int J Mater Form (2010) Vol.

3 Suppl 1:599 –602

DOI 10.1007/s12289-010-0841-x
© Springer-Verlag France 2010

VISCOELASTIC MATERIAL MODELS OF POLYPROPYLENE FOR

THERMOFORMING APPLICATIONS

C. P. J. O’Connor1*, P. J. Martin2 and G. Menary3

1,2,3
Queen’s University Belfast – School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

ABSTRACT: Polypropylene (PP), a semi-crystalline material, is typically solid phase thermoformed at temperatures
associated with crystalline melting, generally in the 150° to 160° Celsius range. In this very narrow thermoforming
window the mechanical properties of the material rapidly decline with increasing temperature and these large changes in
properties make Polypropylene one of the more difficult materials to process by thermoforming. Measurement of the
deformation behaviour of a material under processing conditions is particularly important for accurate numerical
modelling of thermoforming processes. This paper presents the findings of a study into the physical behaviour of
industrial thermoforming grades of Polypropylene. Practical tests were performed using custom built materials testing
machines and thermoforming equipment at Queen's University Belfast. Numerical simulations of these processes were
constructed to replicate thermoforming conditions using industry standard Finite Element Analysis software, namely
ABAQUS and custom built user material model subroutines. Several variant constitutive models were used to represent
the behaviour of the Polypropylene materials during processing. This included a range of phenomenological,
rheological and blended constitutive models. The paper discusses approaches to modelling industrial plug-assisted
thermoforming operations using Finite Element Analysis techniques and the range of material models constructed and
investigated. It directly compares practical results to numerical predictions. The paper culminates discussing the
learning points from using Finite Element Methods to simulate the plug-assisted thermoforming of Polypropylene,
which presents complex contact, thermal, friction and material modelling challenges. The paper makes
recommendations as to the relative importance of these inputs in general terms with regard to correlating to
experimentally gathered data. The paper also presents recommendations as to the approaches to be taken to secure
simulation predictions of improved accuracy.

KEYWORDS: Thermoforming, Polypropylene, Viscoelastic, Finite Element Analysis

1 INTRODUCTION amorphous materials such as Polystyrene (PS), as these

The wide range of mechanical and physical properties
exhibited by modern plastics has seen them deployed in
a very large range of commercial applications, for
instance their use in the packaging industry. Properties
such as low density, transparency in some cases, high
strength to weight ratios, good barrier resistance and
their ready manufacture using a range of processes has
led to plastics being dominant in many commercial uses.
Within the plastics packaging industry a sizeable
proportion of the market is taken with the production of
thin-walled polymer containers, manufactured using
industrial thermoforming equipment. Thermoforming,
as the name implies, is the shaping of sheets of pre-
extruded heated plastics into products with the assistance
of air pressure and mechanical assist devices.
Thermoforming has traditionally been used with
____________________
* Ciaran O’Connor, Queen’s University Belfast, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Ashby Building, Stranmillis
Road, BT9 5AH, Belfast, Ireland - Telephone: 00 44 2890 975523 - Fax: 00 44 2890 661729 - Email:ciaran.oconnor@qub.ac.uk.
can be shaped with relative ease above their glass
transition temperatures and also exhibit quite a wide
forming range. Polypropylenes representing a range of
semi-crystalline materials are more difficult to
thermoform. They display sharp melting points, low melt
strength, a greater tendency to sag at elevated
temperatures and generally have narrower forming
windows. These processing complexities present those
industries thermoforming polypropylenes with innate
challenges. Commercial pressures in the packaging
industry have created demands upon manufacturers to
produce more efficient processes and leaner products.
Historically manufacturers have used trial and error
methods to reduce costs and improve products.
Currently however many are turning to simulation and
numerical modelling methods to optimise their products
and processes. This research consisted of an
600
experimental test programme at conditions similar to
industrial thermoforming processes. This data is to be
used to provide simulations with accurate materials
information to provide modelling solutions of improved
acuity. Improved modelling accuracy should provide a
firm basis for producing more efficient processes and
leaner products.
2 EXPERIMENTAL
2.1 Materials information
The material used for the study was created in extruded
sheet form at Queen’s University Belfast [QUB]. The
material is the Moplen HP540J[1] grade supplied by
Basell Polyolefins. The HP540J material is a nucleated
homopolymer used for extrusion and thermoforming
applications. It is designed for stiffness and enhanced
transparency performance. The extruded caliper of the
sheet was 1.1mm. The quoted manufacturers material
properties are provided in compact form in Table 1.
[1]
Table 1: Material properties for the Moplen HP540J
materials, used in this research
Moplen 540J [1]
Density 0.9 g/cm3
Melt flow rate
3.2g/10min(230°C/2.16kg)
(MFR)
Tensile Modulus 1600 N/mm2
Tensile Stress at
37.0 N/mm2
Yield
Tensile Strain at
>50%
Yield
The thermoforming window is the temperature range
over which the polymer is sufficiently supple for
stretching and shaping into the desired form. The region
is terminated by the need for the polymer to have
sufficient structural integrity to maintain the shape after
forming. The deformation behaviour of the material is
very dependent upon the temperature and as such it is
necessary to identify an appropriate thermoforming
range prior to testing. The softening range of the
material blend used in this instance was established with
the use of Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analysis
(DMTA) equipment and additionally Differential
Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) was performed to
characterize the melting behaviour of the semi-
crystalline polymer. A conservative thermoforming
window of 140° to 165° was derived from this testing.
2.2 Biaxial Testing
Biaxial tests were carried out upon the custom built
biaxial stretching machines constructed by Queen’s
University Belfast and the University of Bradford.
These machines were developed to replicate the
deformation behaviour of polymeric materials during
thermoforming processes. Conditions in both machines
are readily altered to provide for different modes of
deformation, a range of rates of deformation up to 31.5s-
1
, temperatures up to 700°C, samples up to 2mm thick
and stretch ratios up to 4.16. Square material samples of
sizes 76mm x 76mm and 55mm x 55mm were prepared
from the extruded sheet provided. These samples were
placed in the scissor design stretching frames of the
biaxial testing rigs. The samples were then gripped by
clamps, which grip the sheet in a square pattern during
heating and stretching. The specimens were then heated
to an appropriate temperature in the range identified.
The sheet heating is performed by two hot air blower
heaters, fitted with diffusers, placed vertically above and
below the test specimen in the QUB machine. The
University of Bradford rig uses an enclosed oven to heat
the samples. During stretching the extension and force
were recorded using two load cells placed longitudinally
and transverse to the test piece and are mounted upon the
centrally positioned clamp in each axis. The load-cells
are linked to computer controlled data-logging interfaces
which provide for the storage of the incoming data
stream as the tests progressed. The force-extension data
was regressed using industry standard spreadsheet
software to provide plots of stress versus strain for the
samples that were tested.
2.3 Materials testing results
Figures 1, 2 and 3 provide examples of the typical
stretching performance of the HP540J material. The
figures depict the true stress versus true strain
deformation history at a strain rate of 2.4s-1, at a
temperature of 155°C and a stretch ratio of 3.0. Figures
1, 2 and 3 illustrate the yielding and strain hardening
behaviour of the material as it is progressively deformed
in equi-biaxial, sequential and constant width stretching
respectively. Also detailed on the figures are the results
of Finite Element Analysis simulations fitted to the
materials data based on the Sweeney[2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] model.
This model will now be discussed as it is one of the
major themes of this
document.
Figure 1: True stress versus true strain data for an
equibiaxially stretched HP540J; stretch ratio 3, strain
-1
rate 2.4s , T=155°C.
 601

springs with integrated Eyring dashpots. The Edwards-

Vilgis springs mimic the change in entropy of the
polymer network through the action of cross-linking and
slip-linking behaviours in the materials. The Eyring
dashpots provide a method to address the viscous time
dependent behaviour of the material as it is progressively
deformed at elevated temperature. A diagram of the
network is detailed in Figure 4.

Edwards-Vilgis Eyring
springs. dashpots.
Figure 2: True stress versus time data for sequentially
-1
stretched HP540J; stretch ratio 3, strain rate 2.4s ,
T=155°C.

Figure 4: The Sweeney model.

The Sweeney model includes two Edwards-Vilgis

springs. The Edwards-Vilgis strain energy function has
a contribution to stored energy from both cross-linking
and slip-linking behaviours. There are separate
functions proposed for the contribution from both
sources. U is the stored strain energy caused by
extension of the polymeric network under load. The
strain energy contribution, U CL , from the cross-links is
calculated using equation (1).

 ∑3 (1 − α 2 ) λ 2 
Figure 3: True stress versus true strain data for
constant width stretched HP540J; stretch ratio 3, strain
U CL =
1

2
( N c k BT )  i =1 2 3 2
 1−α ∑ λ
i
i
(
+ ln 1 − α
2 3 2
∑ λi
i =1
)
 (1)

-1
rate 2.4s , T=155°C.  i =1 
λ is the material stretch ratio. N C is the number of
3 MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF
THERMOFORMING crosslinks per unit volume of the material, N/mm2. k B is
the Boltzmann constant of value 1.38*10-23 JK-1. T is
3.1 The Sweeney Model the absolute temperature in degrees Kelvin. α is a
measure of the chain inextensibility, equivalent to the
Mathematical models of the stretching of the sheet were inverse of the maximum permitted stretch λmax . An
created to numerically simulate the loading of the heated
polymer. The models were constructed using the Finite increase in the magnitude in the value of alpha leads to
Element Analysis software ABAQUS[11]. The material the reduction of the extensibility of the chain. The
model chosen was that proposed by Sweeney et sliplink contribution of the Edwards-Vilgis model, U SL ,
al.[2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Using this theory a ‘user subroutine’ is detailed in equation (2).
was developed at QUB describing the behaviour of the
  
  (1 + η ) (1 − α ) λi
Sweeney model such that it could be used in conjunction 2 2
2 
with ABAQUS to facilitate the research. This model + ln (1 + ηλi ) 
proposed had been used in studies of Polypropylene
previously on in plane deformation simulations including U SL =
1
 ∑3 
 ( 2 2
)
( N S k BT ) i =1  1 − α i∑=1 λi (1 − ηλi )
3 2 
 
2
biaxial, sequential, uniaxial and constant width stretches.  

( ) 
It had not however, to the best of the authors knowledge,
2 3 2
been used in process simulations of thermoforming + ln 1 − α i∑=1 λi 
where the plugging and inflation process heavily
influence the deformation behaviour. This model is a (2)
rate dependent viscoelastic model, which includes a N S is the number of sliplinks per unit volume of the
parallel network of Edwards-Vilgis entropic network material, N/mm2. η is a measure used to define the
602

freedom of movement or allowable slippage of the This study found that the single Eyring model performed
sliplinks. It is often referred to as a ‘slipperiness’ factor. most satisfactorily in replicating the material behaviour
In cases where η is zero there is no slippage at all. In of the HP540J material. In the central thermoforming
this case there is zero contribution to the strain energy window region the α parameter limiting stretch was not
from the sliplinks. The operation of the Eyring in the found to be necessary when fitting to the experimental
model is detailed by equation (3). data. This was the case for this material at temperatures
above 150°C. However at much lower temperatures the
e p = A exp(V pσ ). sinh(Vsτ ) (3) α parameter may be required to assist in fitting the
model to the data, suggesting a limiting stretch.
eP is the scalar plastic strain rate. A is a material
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5 CONCLUSIONS
The Sweeney viscoelastic model has been investigated
with regard to a variety of forms, including the two-
Eyring, single-Eyring and limiting α stretch models.