Application of the Low Frequency Raman Spectroscopy for Studying Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylenes

The use of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW PE) for the manufacture of various parts, in particular cuffs for hydraulic drives, is proposed. The properties and advantages of UHMW PE in comparison with other polyethylene materials are considered. Keywords ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, hydraulic pump, hydraulic motor, hydraulic control valve, hydraulic oil, low temperature. [email protected]

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Structure, processing and performance of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (IUPAC Technical Report). Part 4: sporadic fatigue crack propagation

Pure and Applied Chemistry ◽

10.1515/pac-2019-0408 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 92 (9) ◽

pp. 1521-1536

Author(s):

Clive Bucknall ◽

Volker Altstädt ◽

Dietmar Auhl ◽

Paul Buckley ◽

Dirk Dijkstra ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Molecular Weight ◽

Fatigue Crack ◽

Crack Propagation ◽

High Molecular Weight ◽

Fatigue Crack Propagation ◽

Crack Tip ◽

Individual Growth ◽

Paris Equation ◽

Number Of Cycles ◽

Ultra High Molecular Weight

AbstractFatigue tests were carried out on compression mouldings supplied by a leading polymer manufacturer. They were made from three batches of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) with weight-average relative molar masses, ${\overline{M}}_{\mathrm{W}}$, of about 0.6 × 106, 5 × 106 and 9 × 106. In 10 mm thick compact tension specimens, crack propagation was so erratic that it was impossible to follow standard procedure, where crack-tip stress intensity amplitude, ΔK, is raised incrementally, and the resulting crack propagation rate, da/dN, increases, following the Paris equation, where a is crack length and N is number of cycles. Instead, most of the tests were conducted at fixed high values of ΔK. Typically, da/dN then started at a high level, but decreased irregularly during the test. Micrographs of fracture surfaces showed that crack propagation was sporadic in these specimens. In one test, at ΔK = 2.3 MPa m0.5, there were crack-arrest marks at intervals Δa of about 2 μm, while the number of cycles between individual growth steps increased from 1 to more than 1000 and the fracture surface showed increasing evidence of plastic deformation. It is concluded that sporadic crack propagation was caused by energy-dissipating crazing, which was initiated close to the crack tip under plane strain conditions in mouldings that were not fully consolidated. By contrast, fatigue crack propagation in 4 mm thick specimens followed the Paris equation approximately. The results from all four reports on this project are reviewed, and the possibility of using fatigue testing as a quality assurance procedure for melt-processed UHMWPE is discussed.

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