Mechanical and structural studies of low density polyethylene

Abstract

This paper is one of a series concerned with the complete characterisation of the creep behaviour of oriented polymers, the correlation of creep behaviour with other mechanical properties and the interpretation of such data in the light of present structural knowledge. Sheets of oriented low-density polyethylene were prepared from initially isotropic sheets by cold-drawing, cold-drawing followed by heat-treatment at 55° C, drawing at a temperature of 55° C and hot-drawing at temperatures in the range 90 to 100° C. At each draw ratio, specimens were cut at angles of 0°, 45° and 90° to the draw direction. For each specimen, the variation of longitudinal and lateral strain with time, during uniaxial tensile creep at 20° C, was measured simultaneously by direct extensometer methods, for a wide range of applied stresses. All the materials exhibited complex anisotropic non-linear viscoelastic behaviour. The methods of presenting such data are discussed and the results are presented in some detail. Many similarities in the creep behaviour of the cold- and hot-drawn materials are noted. However, marked differences are apparent in the non-linearity and creep rate of the 45° specimens from these two materials at high draw ratio. These, and other effects found at high draw ratio, are discussed with reference to the structural studies reported in part 1. At low draw ratio, it is shown that the anomalous behaviour of the modulus in the draw direction, reported previously for cold-drawn material, may also be found in the hot-drawn material, although at a different creep time. On the basis of obvious differences in wide-angle X-ray patterns other workers had previously predicted that the anomalous mechanical behaviour of cold-drawn LDPE was probably unique. The anomalous behaviour of the hot-drawn material is also explained in terms of the structures discussed in part 1.