Practical Testing and Evaluation of Plastics

Achim Frick has obtained his academic degrees (MSc, PhD) from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. He spent several years in industry before taking up his present professorship at Aalen University. Professor Frick is Head of the Institute of Polymer Science and Processing (iPSP) and has authored more than eighty scientific papers and three book publications. Being also Head of the Polymer Engineering Transfer Center PETZ, he has served national and international industries with more than 400 material science reports. Since more than ten years he is also offering training courses to industry in polymer engineering subjects.Claudia Stern has obtained her PhD from University of Twente, The Netherlands. Before taking up her present position as technical director at Intercable GmbH, Italy, she spent about 12 years in industry. Starting from being a senior scientist in Research & Development in the field of polymer engineering, she successfully builts up a new innovative business unit at ElringKlinger Kunststofftechnik GmbH, which she led for several years and thus became general manager at Schlemmer Group. She has authored several scientific publications and three books.Vibunanthan Muralidharan obtained his Master of Science (M. Sc.) in Polymer Technology at the University of Aalen, Germany, after completing his Bachelor of Engineering (B. Eng.) in Mechanical Engineering in Chennai, India. He then went on to do research work in the field of polymer and rubber materials with a specialization on the dynamic behaviour of rubber materials, under the supervision of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Achim Frick for an extensive period of time. He presently holds the position of Testing and Process Optimization Engineer at Vorwerk Autotec GmbH in Wuppertal, Germany, where he is responsible for the testing and evaluation of various elastomer bushings and damping elements for automobiles.

• 1 Introduction to Plastics 11.1 Plastics 11.2 Structure and Behaviour of Plastics 51.3 Melting Polymers 121.4 Mechanical Behaviour of Polymers 151.5 Uniaxial Stress-Strain Behaviour 281.6 Resins 371.7 Material Selection 391.8 Processing of Polymers 402 Polymer Testing 452.1 Introduction 452.2 Objective of Polymer Testing 452.3 Sample Preparation and Test Procedure 482.4 Sample Extraction/Sampling 492.5 Types of Samples 502.6 Test Implementation/Operation/Accomplishment 512.7 Description of Test Results/Test Report 513 Identifcation of Polymers 533.1 Introduction 533.2 Density Measurement 533.3 Infrared Spectroscopy 584 Rheological Testing 654.1 Introduction 654.2 Rheometry 704.3 Viscometry 775 Mechanical Testing 875.1 Introduction 875.2 Quasi-Static Loading 885.3 Impact Loading 1135.4 Long-Term Static Loading 1205.5 Long-Term Dynamic Loading - Fatigue 1266 Tribological Testing 1336.1 Introduction 1336.2 Sliding Behaviour 1346.3 Friction Coefficient 1356.4 Wear 1367 Thermal Testing 1397.1 Introduction 1397.2 Tests Under Thermal Loading 1417.3 Thermal Ageing Behaviour 1447.4 Di¿erential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) 1447.5 Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) 1527.6 Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) 1587.7 Thermomechanical Analysis (TMA) - Dilatometry 1617.8 Calcination Test 1647.9 Thermal Dimensional Stability 1667.10 Heat Detection Temperature 1698 Chemical Testing 1738.1 Introduction 1738.2 Chemical Resistance Investigation 1738.3 Environmental Stress Cracking Resistance (ESCR) Investigation 1749 Physical Testing 1819.1 Introduction 1819.2 Determination of Mass 1819.3 Determination of Water Absorption 18210 Geometrical Inspection 18710.1 Introduction 18710.2 Sizes and Tolerances 18710.3 Processing and Post-processing Shrinkage 19510.4 Warpage 19711 Optical Testing Methods 19911.1 Introduction 19911.2 Visual Inspection 19911.3 Light Microscope (LM) 20111.4 Digital Microscope (DM) 20711.5 Scanning Electron Beam Microscope (SEM) 20811.6 Polarized Light Inspection 212