Temperature, Strain Rate and Pressure Sensitivity of the Polyetheretherketone’s Yield Stress

Abstract

The polymer yield behavior is affected by temperature, strain rate and pressure. In this work, tensile yield stress of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is characterized for temperature ranging between [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]C and [Formula: see text]C). The tensile yield stress is decreasing in terms of temperature. Two temperature transitions are observed: [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]C) and the glass transition temperature. The temperature sensitivity is well captured by the modified-Eyring equation proposed by the authors. This paper completes three previous works where the PEEK’s yield behavior was described under compression on wide ranges of strain rate and temperature and under tension on a wide range of strain rates. Thus, the pressure effect is analyzed in terms of temperature and strain rate. Using either the experimental data or the modified-Eyring equation, the effect of the hydrostatic pressure is increasing with temperature and decreasing with strain rate.