Mechanical Characterization of Polymer Materials Under Low Strain Rate Loading

Volume 5 Issue 3 October - December 2017

Research Paper

Mechanical Characterization of Polymer Materials Under Low Strain Rate Loading

Dinesh Kumar*, Arshdeep Kaur**, Yugam Kumar Aggarwal***, Piyush Uniyal****, Navin Kumar*****, Prashant Jindal******

* Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering , UIET, Panjab University, Chandigarh,India.

**-*** Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UIET, Panjab University,Chandigarh,India.

**** Research Scholar, Centre for Biomedical Engineering Department, IIT Ropar, India.

***** Associate Professor and Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering ,IIT Ropar, India.

****** Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UIET, Panjab University,Chandigarh,India.

Kumar, D., Kaur , A., Aggarwal, Y. K., Uniyal, P., Kumar, N., and Jindal, P. (2017). Mechanical Characterization of Polymer Materials Under Low Strain Rate Loading. i-manager’s Journal on Material Science, 5(3), 8-14. https://doi.org/10.26634/jms.5.3.13742

Abstract

In the present research work, mechanical tensile properties of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), Polyketone (PK), Polypropylene (PP), and Acrylic have been evaluated at low strain rate loading (0.1s-1, 0.01s-1 and 0.001s-1). Sigma Mixing (SM) and Injection Molding (IM) techniques have been used to fabricate dog bone shaped specimens of these polymers. Effect of different fabrication techniques on tensile behaviour of these four polymers has been evaluated. Young's modulus of all polymers is enhanced significantly when specimens are fabricated by Sigma mixing technique. A noticeable improvement of 22.7%, 11.6%, 41%, and 45% in the Young's modulus of ABS, PK, PP, and Acrylic fabricated by Sigma mixing has been observed in comparison to Injection moulded specimens. Molecular orientation, better homogeneity, and strong binding of molecules could be the reasons for this improvement in Young's modulus of specimens fabricated by sigma mixing. This low cost fabrication technology (Sigma mixing) with higher production rate and improved mechanical properties will make this research work more applicable for the fabrication of automotive parts, protective headgear, engineering plastics, electronic assemblies, and other mechanical devices.