Effect of mean strain on the cyclic deformation and stress relaxation in polypropylene

Abstract

AbstractThe influence of mean strain Changes in the range from 0 to 4% on the cyclic deformation and stress‐relaxation properties is investigated using rod specimens of polypropylene. An extensometer measures and controls the axial strain in a closed‐loop, electrohydraulic, servocontrolled mechanical testing machine. The hysteresis loop at different numbers of cycles N of N = 35, 45, and 50 are irregular in shape, and the tensile portion decreases in size as the number of cycles was increased. The stress value of the tensile portion for three mean strains of ϵm = 1.0%, 2.0%, and 4.0% remains constant, but the value of the compressive portion decreases as the mean strain was increased. The stress level at a strain width of 3% changes little with mean strain. For the strain widths of 5% and 7%, however, the minimum stress levels at N = 35, 45, and 50 increase with increasing mean strain, in contrast to the behavior of maximum stress level. The stressrelaxation tests show that the drop of stress decreases with an increase in number of cycles. The discrepancy in the results of relaxation tests is due to the effect of the difference in strain rates.