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A fracture mechanics approach to characterising the environmental stress cracking behaviour of thermoplastics

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Title: A fracture mechanics approach to characterising the environmental stress cracking behaviour of thermoplastics
Authors: Kamaludin, MA
Patel, Y
Williams, JG
Blackman, BRK
Item Type: Journal Article
Abstract: Environmental stress cracking (ESC) is known to affect certain thermoplastics and occurs under simultaneous exposure to both applied stress and a hostile environment. The combination of these can cause a crack to form from a flaw in the material; upon reaching a critical size, the crack may accelerate thus causing catastrophic failure in the component. Various tests have been utilised to measure the resistance of different polymers to ESC, but these are often material- and application-specific and overlook the different stages of the failure process. In the present work, a fracture mechanics approach has been developed and applied, with a view to developing a test method that has wide applicability and provides both insight into the failure mechanisms as well as information for engineering design. Experimental results are presented for the following polymer-environment combinations: linear low-density PE in Igepal solution, HIPS in sunflower oil, and PMMA in methanol. It is shown that the representation of the results in the form of G versus crack velocity and G versus time can distinguish between materials of varying ESC resistance, identify the important regions of the failure process, and enable component life prediction.
Issue Date: 9-Jun-2017
Date of Acceptance: 7-Jun-2017
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/49864
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tafmec.2017.06.005
ISSN: 0167-8442
Publisher: Elsevier
Start Page: 373
End Page: 380
Journal / Book Title: Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics
Volume: 92
Copyright Statement: © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Keywords: Science & Technology
Technology
Engineering, Mechanical
Mechanics
Engineering
Environmental
Stress cracking
Thermoplastics
Fracture mechanics
Compliance
POLYMERS
GROWTH
POLYETHYLENE
0102 Applied Mathematics
0905 Civil Engineering
0913 Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering & Transports
Publication Status: Published
Appears in Collections:Mechanical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering