Abstract
Abstract In this study, an earlier investigation of the effects of molecular weight on fatigue crack propagation, FCP, in PVC was extended and earlier tentative conclusions were verified using samples whose molecular weight distributions were relatively constant and narrow. In the range of Mw between 6 × 104 and 2 × 105, a strong effect of M on the FCP rate per cycle (da/dN) as a function of the range in the stress intensity factor (δ K) was observed. While the apparent fracture toughness increased moderately with M, FCP rates at constant δK decreased by three orders of magnitude over the range examined. This strong dependence, which followed the empirical relationship da/dN = A eB/M δKn, implies that cyclic disentanglement is more difficult the higher M. Preliminary observations were also made on the roles of sample orientation, mean stress and thermal history. It was found that the residual orientation that survived specimen fabrication had a slight but significant effect on FCP rates and the maximum va...
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