Practical Testing and Evaluation of Plastics

1 Introduction to Plastics 1
1.1 Plastics 1
1.2 Structure and Behaviour of Plastics 5
1.3 Melting Polymers 12
1.4 Mechanical Behaviour of Polymers 15
1.5 Uniaxial Stress-Strain Behaviour 28
1.6 Resins 37
1.7 Material Selection 39
1.8 Processing of Polymers 40

2 Polymer Testing 45
2.1 Introduction 45
2.2 Objective of Polymer Testing 45
2.3 Sample Preparation and Test Procedure 48

2.4 Sample Extraction/Sampling 49
2.5 Types of Samples 50
2.6 Test Implementation/Operation/Accomplishment 51
2.7 Description of Test Results/Test Report 51

3 Identi¿cation of Polymers 53
3.1 Introduction 53
3.2 Density Measurement 53
3.3 Infrared Spectroscopy 58

4 Rheological Testing 65
4.1 Introduction 65
4.2 Rheometry 70
4.3 Viscometry 77

5 Mechanical Testing 87
5.1 Introduction 87
5.2 Quasi-Static Loading 88
5.3 Impact Loading 113

5.4 Long-Term Static Loading 120
5.5 Long-Term Dynamic Loading - Fatigue 126

6 Tribological Testing 133
6.1 Introduction 133
6.2 Sliding Behaviour 134
6.3 Friction Coe¿cient 135
6.4 Wear 136

7 Thermal Testing 139
7.1 Introduction 139
7.2 Tests Under Thermal Loading 141
7.3 Thermal Ageing Behaviour 144
7.4 Di¿erential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) 144
7.5 Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) 152
7.6 Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) 158
7.7 Thermomechanical Analysis (TMA) - Dilatometry 161
7.8 Calcination Test 164
7.9 Thermal Dimensional Stability 166
7.10 Heat De¿ection Temperature 169

8 Chemical Testing 173
8.1 Introduction 173
8.2 Chemical Resistance Investigation 173
8.3 Environmental Stress Cracking Resistance (ESCR) Investigation 174

9 Physical Testing 181
9.1 Introduction 181
9.2 Determination of Mass 181
9.3 Determination of Water Absorption 182

10 Geometrical Inspection 187
10.1 Introduction 187
10.2 Sizes and Tolerances 187
10.3 Processing and Post-processing Shrinkage 195
10.4 Warpage 197

11 Optical Testing Methods 199
11.1 Introduction 199
11.2 Visual Inspection 199
11.3 Light Microscope (LM) 201
11.4 Digital Microscope (DM) 207
11.5 Scanning Electron Beam Microscope (SEM) 208
11.6 Polarized Light Inspection 212

Achim Frick has obtained his academic degrees (MSc, PhD) from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. He spent several years in industry before taking up his present professorship at Aalen University. Professor Frick is Head of the Institute of Polymer Science and Processing (iPSP) and has authored more than eighty scientific papers and three book publications. Being also Head of the Polymer Engineering Transfer Center PETZ, he has served national and international industries with more than 400 material science reports. Since more than ten years he is also offering training courses to industry in polymer engineering subjects.

Claudia Stern has obtained her PhD from University of Twente, The Netherlands. Before taking up her present position as technical director at Intercable GmbH, Italy, she spent about 12 years in industry. Starting from being a senior scientist in Research & Development in the field of polymer engineering, she successfully builts up a new innovative business unit at ElringKlinger Kunststofftechnik GmbH, which she led for several years and thus became general manager at Schlemmer Group. She has authored several scientific publications and three books.

Vibunanthan Muralidharan obtained his Master of Science (M. Sc.) in Polymer Technology at the University of Aalen, Germany, after completing his Bachelor of Engineering (B. Eng.) in Mechanical Engineering in Chennai, India. He then went on to do research work in the field of polymer and rubber materials with a specialization on the dynamic behaviour of rubber materials, under the supervision of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Achim Frick for an extensive period of time. He presently holds the position of Testing and Process Optimization Engineer at Vorwerk Autotec GmbH in Wuppertal, Germany, where he is responsible for the testing and evaluation of various elastomer bushings and damping elements for automobiles.