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Chapter 6d - Mechanical Properties

The document summarizes several important mechanical properties of polymers: 1. Tensile strength, compressive strength, and flexural strength measure a polymer's resistance to stretching, compression, and bending, respectively. 2. Impact resistance and hardness measure a polymer's toughness and resistance to indentation. 3. Fatigue resistance indicates how well a polymer withstands repeated stress. 4. Common tests are described to measure these properties, including tensile testing, impact testing, hardness testing, and abrasion/scratch testing.

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LEE LEE LAU
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49 views21 pages

Chapter 6d - Mechanical Properties

The document summarizes several important mechanical properties of polymers: 1. Tensile strength, compressive strength, and flexural strength measure a polymer's resistance to stretching, compression, and bending, respectively. 2. Impact resistance and hardness measure a polymer's toughness and resistance to indentation. 3. Fatigue resistance indicates how well a polymer withstands repeated stress. 4. Common tests are described to measure these properties, including tensile testing, impact testing, hardness testing, and abrasion/scratch testing.

Uploaded by

LEE LEE LAU
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Mechanical

Properties
 The most important mechanical properties of the polymers:
1. Tensile strength
• Refers to resistance to stretching
2. Compressive strength
• The extent to which a sample can be compressed before
it fails (opposite of tensile strength)
3. Flexural strength
• A measure of resistance to breaking or snapping, when a
sample is bent (flexed)
4. Impact resistance
• A measure of toughness
• How well a sample will withstand the sudden onset of
stress (such as a hammer blow)
5. Hardness
• A measure of a polymer resistance to surface indention
6. Abrasion and scratch resistance
7. Fatique
• How well a sample will withstand repeated applications
of tensile, flexural or compressive stress.
Mechanical
Tests
Tensile Test

 To measure tensile strength, modulus and elongation.


 Strength and elongation at the yield point and break point
are usually recorded
 The ratio of stress to strain is a measure of the stiffness.
i.e., a stiff polymer will yield very little as the stress is
applied
 Toughness is a measure of resistance to breaking
Can be estimated from stress-strain curve and impact
test
Rubber "dumbbell" tensile test sample
Tensile Test Instrument
Yield point

Stress-strain curve for a thermoplastic such as PE


 stress-strain curve for different types of polymers

a) Soft and weak polymers (elastomers, e.g. SBR)


stress

strain

b) Soft and tough polymers (crosslinked elastomer)


stress

strain
c) Hard and brittle polymers (e.g. PS)
stress

strain

d) Hard and strong polymers (e.g. fibers)


stress

strain
c) Hard and tough polymers (e.g. PE)

stress

strain
Impact Test

 Provide rough guidelines to comparative toughness


 A polymer that is prone to shatter on impact cannot be used
in many applications
 Standard impact test involves 2 types of experiments:
 Swinging pendulum is allowed to strike the sample from
different displacement
 Falling weight is dropped onto the sample from various
heights
Hardness Test

 Is measured by the distance of indentation that occurs when


the indenter is pressed into the surface under constant load

 The indenter may be a spring-loaded needle type (Barcol test)


or a weight steel ball (Rockwell test)
Barcol Test Instrument
Rockwell test instrument
Abrasion and Scratch Test

 Abrasion and scratch resistance are different properties.

 Abrasion resistance:
 The ability of a polymer to retain a smooth surface while
moving constantly in contact with another smooth surface

 Determined by measuring weight loss of a sample when


the sample is subjected to mechanical abrader
 Scratch resistance:
 The susceptibility of a smooth polymer surface to
scratching

 Examples of scratch resistance test:


 Pressing and twisting of a piece of sandpaper on the
surface
 Scratching of the surface with pencils of different
hardness
Abrasion and Scratch Tester

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