PSI - Issue 13

Dani Abdo et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 13 (2018) 511–516 D.Abdo et al. / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2018) 000 – 000

516

6

Table 1 Median size of conic structures for PBT-GF10 TPEE Loading rate (mm/min) Conic-structure size in (µm 2 x10 -3 ) 2 4.0 20 3.8 200 2.6 400 2.1

When presented as cumulative distribution function, the results for sizes of conic structures demonstrate clear differences and pronounced trends. The normal standard distribution analysis shows that the probability of formation of larger conic structures decreases with increasing loading rates. Table 1 presents the mean size of a conic structure at different loading rates for PBT-GF10 TPEE.

4. Conclusions

Morphological analysis of fractures obtained from tensile tests of PBT-GF10 and PBT-GF10 TPEE specimens at different loading rates was implemented. The matrix material of PBT-GF10 TPEE behaved in a more ductile manner than PBT GF10. The investigation showed that the ductile area for both materials decreased with increasing loading rates; TPEE blended material had a bigger ductile area at all rates. This is a clear indication of a change in microstructure due to matrix composition. The size and shape of ductile areas show that fracture behavior was a result of blending with TPEE. Interfacial adhesion between the matrix and fibers were affected negatively by TPEE. The fractographs demonstrated that fiber pull-out was a dominant failure mechanism. Further analysis of the ductile area showed a higher probability of creation of larger conic structures at lower loading rates. The results confirm that formation of the ductile area is a relatively slow process when compared to the rate at which the brittle area forms. When a stable crack growth dominates, the crack propagates much more rapidly through the specimen in a brittle manner, not allowing the matrix material to deform plastically and, therefore, leading to final failure of the specimen. These facts are supported by the decreasing trend of the ductile area at higher loading rates. PBT-GF10 TPEE showed that, even at higher loading rates, a measurable ductile area was available; this may explain the good impact properties of this material. The weak matrix-fiber bonding and the modified microstructure could affect tensile properties negatively; further investigations of this will be presented in elsewhere. Ten Busschen, A., Selvadurai, A. P. S., 1995. Mechanics of the Segmentation of an Embedded Fiber, Part I: Experimental Investigations. Transactions-american Society of Mechanical Engineers. Journal of Applied Mechanics 62,87-87. Horst, J. J., Spoormaker, J. L., 1997. Fatigue Fracture Mechanisms and Fractography of Short-Glassfiber Reinforced Polyamide 6. Journal of Materials Science 32(14),3641-51. Kalfoglou, N. K., 1977. Thermomechanical Studies of Semicrystalline Polyether-ester Copolymers. Effect of Thermal, Mechanical, and Solvent Treatment. Journal of Applied Polymer Science 21(2),543-54. Klimkeit, B., Castagnet, S., Nadot, Y., El Habib, A., Benoit, G., Bergamo, S., Dumas, C., Achard, S., 2011. Fatigue Damage Mechanisms in Short Fiber Reinforced PBT+PET GF30. Materials Science and Engineering A 528(3),1577-88. Schaaf, A., De Monte, M., Hoffmann, C., Vormwald, M., Quaresimin, M., 2014. Damage Mechanisms in PBT-GF30 under Thermo-Mechanical Cyclic Loading. AIP Conference Proceedings, vol. 1593. pp. 600-605. Selvadurai, A. P. S., Ten Busschen, A., 1995. Mechanics of the Segmentation of an Embedded Fiber, Part I1: Computational Modeling and Comparisons. Transactions-american Society of Mechanical Engineers. Journal of Applied Mechanics 62,98-107. Verma, G., Kulshreshtha, B., Tyagi, S., Ghosh, A.K., 2008. PBT/Thermoplastic Elastomer Blends-Mechanical, Morphological, and Rheological Characterization. Polymer-Plastics Technology and Engineering 47(10),969-77. References