Study of the temperature-dependent stress-cracking behavior of amorphous polymer-based nanocomposites

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Alois K. Schlarb
• Subject Area: Plastics Engineering ; Polymer Materials
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 270466437

Environmental Stress Cracking ESC of polymer materials is a serious issue in the daily use of plastics. ESC is the most common reason of failure in plastic components; around 25% of the failure cases are attributed to this phenomenon. ESC occurs at stress levels well below the yield strength or mechanical strength of the material if the part is also in contact with a liquid acting as an environmental stress cracking agent. In certain applications, such as in medicine, this can lead to life-threatening situations.The addition of the nanoscale particles in thermoplastics can affect the properties of the material positive. It was shown in the recent past that the incorporation of nanoparticles in polymeric matrices can extremely reduce the creep tendency of these materials. This is attributed to a limitation in the molecular mobility caused by the nanoparticles. In analogy is likely that nanoparticles can have an effect on the environmental stress cracking behavior. In fact, project-related preliminary work has shown basically that materials failure as a result of stress cracking can be shifted to higher failure times due to this measure. The aim of the project is to systematically explore this potential. Beside the experiment modeling and simulation by using superposition principles and rules of mixtures is strived for.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants