The Applicability of Nonlinear Melt Rheology Concepts to the Nonlinear Solid Rheology of DGEBA/m-PDA Epoxy Resin in the Glassy Region

Published

August 31, 1998

Author(s)

Gale A. Holmes, R C. Peterson, Donald L. Hunston, Walter G. McDonough

Abstract

Most ductile polymers exhibit nonlinear viscoelastic behavior above 1% strain. In structural applications where matrix deformation may play and important role in the performance and failure process of a part, very little has been done to characterize the solid state nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of polymers. In this paper we use melt rheology concepts and a standardized testing regime to develop a nonlinear constitutive equation that describes the nonlinear behavior of a polymer above 1% for single-step stress relaxation experiments. The nonlinear constitutive equation is then used to characterize the multi-step stress relaxation behavior of the same polymer. When compared with actual behavior, the model prediction was found to underpredict the response of the polymer at strains above 1%. This suggests the presence of a path dependent mechanism, not accounted for in single-step stress relaxation tests, that alters the response of the matrix material during the test. Therefore, the single-step stress relaxation test must be augmented with other characterization techniques to account for the response of the matrix during multi-step stress relaxation tests.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists & Chemical Engineers

Conference Dates

April 13-18, 1998

Conference Location

Dallas, TX

Conference Title

National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists & Chemical Engineers

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

epoxy resin, modeling, nonlinear viscoelasticity, single fiber fragmentation test, stress-relaxation

Citation

Holmes, G. , Peterson, R. , Hunston, D. and McDonough, W. (1998), The Applicability of Nonlinear Melt Rheology Concepts to the Nonlinear Solid Rheology of DGEBA/m-PDA Epoxy Resin in the Glassy Region, Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists & Chemical Engineers, Dallas, TX, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=851495 (Accessed October 20, 2025)