High strain-rate shear response of polycarbonate and polymethyl methacrylate

Abstract

The high strain rate response of polycarbonate (PC) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) are measured using a split Hopkinson torsion bar for shear strain rates Ẏ from 500 s-1 to 2200 s-1, and temperatures in the range —100°C to 200°C. The yield and fracture behaviours are compared with previous data and existing theories for Ẏ < I s-1. We find that PC yields in accordance with the Eyring theory of viscous flow, for temperatures between the beta transition temperature Tβ ≈ — 100°C and the glass transition temperature Tg = 147°C. At lower temperatures, T < Tβ , backbone chain motion becomes frozen and the shear yield stress is greater than the Eyring prediction. Strain softening is an essential feature of yield of PC at all strain rates employed. Poly methyl methacrylate fractures before yield in the high strain rate tests for T < 80°C, which is close to the glass transition temperature Tg120°C. It is found that the fracture stress for both materials obeys a thermal activation rate theory of Eyring type. Fracture is thought to be nucleation controlled, and is due to the initiation and break down of a craze at the fracture stress τf. Examination of the fracture surfaces reveals that failure is by the nucleation and propagation of inclined mode I microcracks which link to form a stepped fracture surface. This reveals that failure is by tensile cracking and not by a thermal instability in the material. The process of shear localization is fundamentally different from that shown by steel and titanium alloys.