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Title: A thermodynamic theory for characterizing thermo-mechanical response of polymers during crystallization

Conference ·
OSTI ID:175144
 [1]
  1. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (United States)

A thermodynamic theory will be presented to capture the thermo-mechanical characteristics associated with crystallization of polymers. The basic characteristics associated with crystallization consists of (a) crystallization in polymers is considered a gradual transition from an amorphous polymer to a semi-crystalline polymer, (b) there is a volume reduction associated with crystallization as the material moves to the denser morphology of the crystal structure, (c) there is a substantial stiffening of the polymer, (d) there is stress relaxation associated with crystallization for polymers under a constant stretch, (e) there is creep associated with crystallization in polymers under a fixed load. These and other characteristics are modeled in a multi-dimensional thermodynamic theory. As a first example, the simplest possible constitutive assumptions are studied in relation to characterizing the behavior of natural rubber. Natural rubber is selected due to the abundance of information on its thermo-mechanical behavior. This work is an extension to non-isothermal thermodynamic processes of previous work on characterizing the mechanical effects of polymer crystallization under isothermal conditions.

OSTI ID:
175144
Report Number(s):
CONF-950686-; TRN: 95:006111-0055
Resource Relation:
Conference: Joint applied mechanics and materials summer meeting, Los Angeles, CA (United States), 28-30 Jun 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of AMD - MD `95: Summer conference; PB: 520 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English