The environmental stress cracking of linear ethylene copolymers

Abstract

AbstractA new method of measuring the environmental stress cracking (ESC) of polymers at constant strain is proposed in which an occurrence of fracture is detected automatically. The new method showed a very good reproducibility within 10% compared with a few hundred percent by conventional methods.The ESC values obtained by the new method was found to be proportional to those by the conventional Bell Telephone Laboratory method in which the ESC was determined by the occurrence of small cracks, with a proportionality contant of 2.8. From the fact that the difference of both ESCs were also proportional to the ESC determined by the BTL method, it was concluded that the value of the ESC was proportional to the velocity of crack propagation. These conclusions were supported by the observation of the test pieces by a scanning electron microscope.The study of the blended polymers revealed that the additivity of logarithmical ESC with weight fraction holds for a wide range of polymes, which enables estimation of ESCs up to millions of hours.Using this technique, the ESCs of a wide range of molecular weights and a number of short chain branches were studied. It was found that the branches in the high molecular weight polymer were much more effective on the ESC than those in the low molecular weight polymer. This makes it possible to design a good resin with a good ESC.