Three-dimensional constitutive model for the description of high molecular weight semicrystalline polymers over a large range of temperatures and strain rates: Application to Ultra High Molecular Weight PolyEthylene

Abstract

Semi-crystalline polymers, and more particularly high molecular weight semi-crystalline polymers, exhibits interesting properties such as wear and impact resistance which contributes to their spreading into several industries and applications. However, because they have very long chains and exhibit high viscoelastic mechanical behavior, they are diffcult to process. It requires high temperature, close to melting temperature, and important compression strength to arrange the chains. However, such process lack accuracy and better understanding of the thermomechanical behavior is needed to improve it. Thus, a three-dimensional model based on the evolution of the microstructure during the plastic deformation have been developed with relative good agreement with experimental results from the literature.