Experimental and numerical study of the aging effects of sorption conditions on the mechanical behaviour of polypropylene bottles under columnar crush conditions

Abstract

In this paper, a numerical and experimental study was undertaken to investigate the mechanical behaviour of a polypropylene bottle used to store cosmetic products when loaded under columnar crush conditions. The effect of amyl acetate concentration and temperature of aging on the mechanical properties of the bottles was experimentally evaluated. Analytical models describing the influence of the amyl acetate concentration on the mechanical properties of the bottles were proposed. Finite element analysis was implemented to calculate top-load strength of the containers. A non-linear analysis was performed, based on the ABAQUS FEM program coupled with an inverse parameter identification method. The results of the stress analysis were coupled with a yield criterion and a hardening law including the concentration effect of amyl acetate to predict the plastic deformation. The numerically calculated results are in good agreement with the measured ones.