A method for determining the spectral relaxation functions of polymers under single stretching of micro samples

Abstract

The principles of designing products made of the latest complex-structured polymer composite materials necessitate the need to take into account the large-scale structural effects determined by processes at the supramolecular and molecular levels of the polymer: relaxation, kinetic (breaking and recombination of chemical bonds), recrystallization of supramolecular structures, etc. The development of these processes is described by relaxation functions, which, in turn, can be calculated using the functions of relaxation time spectra. The purpose of the work was to develop a specialized equipment for testing micro-samples with a variable working part for uniaxial stretching along with the experimental technique and computational algorithms for processing the obtained measurement data, and experimental approbation of the developed approach to determining spectral relaxation functions. A method is proposed for estimating relaxation functions not at fixed stress levels within linear elasticity, at secant points of deformation diagrams, at fixed values of the linear elasticity modulus, but within an extended range of the sample deformation up to pre-rupture states. A set of test equipment designed for tensile tests of micro-samples with a thickness of the working part of 0.2 – 1.2 mm has been developed. The tooling can be installed on modern high-precision breaking machines. Tensile tests of polyethylene terephthalate micro-samples with a thickness of 50 and 175 μm were carried out taking into account the scale factor. A tensile test of micro-samples that are technologically stabilized by paper frames of a special shape is described. Diagrams illustrating the kinetics of changes in the spectral relaxation functions of oriented polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are constructed proceeding from the data of testing micro-samples with a constant strain rate. A method for using these diagrams in calculations of empirical relaxation time spectra is described. The results of testing micro-samples of polyethylene terephthalate are presented. Illustrative deformation diagrams of the studied polymer samples and calculated diagrams of functions of relaxation time spectra calculated according to the described method are given.