Yield and plastic resistance of α-crystals of isotactic polypropylene

Abstract

Yield behaviour and plastic resistance of the (100)[001] chain slip system in α-crystals of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) were studied in samples of biaxially oriented films of plain iPP and blends of iPP with hydrogenated oligo(cyclopentadiene) (HOCP). Due to the orientation process the films investigated exhibit sharp and nearly one-component texture with the (010) plane parallel to the film surface and the chain direction parallel to the direction of final drawing (transverse direction, TD). The films were studied in tension at various angles with respect to the orientation direction. It was found that the yield stress obeys the Coulomb yield criterion, provided that the angle between the chain orientation axis and tensile axis is within the range of 30–50°. The results suggest that the (100)[001] chain slip is active as a single deformation mechanism in this range of sample orientation. The critical resolved shear stress necessary to activate this slip, τ c, was determined for iPP and iPP/HOCP blend samples. It was also found that the slip process is sensitive to the stress normal to the slip plane, similarly to the slip processes observed in linear polyethylene crystals. The value of τ c determined for plain iPP was 22.6 MPa, while for the 8:2 blend its value increased to 35.5 MPa. The increase is caused most probably by the presence of a small amount of HOCP molecules incorporated within iPP crystals, as well as by the layers of higher concentration of HOCP located at crystal–amorphous interfaces, which both cause immobilization of a part of dislocations and consequently an increase of the yield stress observed in the blend samples. The third probable cause of the increase of yield stress in blends may be an increase of the glass transition temperature of the amorphous phase of iPP in the blend, as compared with plain iPP samples.