A new multiaxial loading test for investigating the mechanical behaviour of polymers

Erwan Guitton (1) , G Rio (1) , H Laurent (1)

1 LIMATB - Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Matériaux de Bretagne

In order to investigate polymer mechanical behaviour more closely and define corresponding numerical behaviour models, a new experimental setup was developed for performing multiaxial loading tests. Some of the loading possibilities are presented here for the case of a copolymer polypropylene (PPC7712). A single moulded sample of this material was mounted on this original apparatus, which was specially designed for studying complex trajectories, including proportional and non-proportional cycles, in which the axial and shear deformation can be simultaneously and independently controlled. Tension/compression/torsion tests were performed on the polypropylene material , spanning all four quadrants of the axial/torsional strain subspace. Under the conditions tested, the effect of strain history on the stress-strain response is hardly observed for this material. The qualitatively different behaviour observed depending on the strain path might be attributable to the asymmetry between the axial/torsional and tension/ compression loads.

Mots clés: Multiaxial loading; Polypropylene; Testing of polymer; Tensile/compression/torsion test

Domaines: Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]; Matériaux et structures en mécanique [physics.class-ph]

Erwan Guitton, G Rio, H Laurent. A new multiaxial loading test for investigating the mechanical behaviour of polymers. Polymer Testing, 2014, 36, pp.32-43. ⟨10.1016/j.polymertesting.2014.03.011⟩. ⟨hal-01229384⟩