The Sequential Analysis of Film Deformation Behavior during Successive Biaxial Stretching Process

Abstract

The deformation behavior of Polypropylene (PP) film during successive biaxial stretching process which consists of machine direction (MD) stretching process with a roll drawing and transverse direction (TD) stretching with a tentering was analyzed sequentially by using a finite element method (FEM). In order to analyze it, stress-strain curves of casted PP film and uni-axially oriented PP film in MD were measured and fitted into the constitutive equation that the authors developed previously, respectively, and then, material constants for both films were obtained. Deformation behavior during successive biaxial stretching were calculated by applying the constitutive equation with the material constants of casted PP film for MD stretching and uni-axially oriented PP film in MD for TD stretching, respectively. Analytical conditions were the draw ratio of 5 for MD analysis and the stretching ratio of 9.5 for TD analysis. The authors also experimentally measured the thickness of film during and after MD and TD stretching using a pilot plant under the same conditions as analytical condition. Calculated results were able to express qualitatively the experimental deformation behavior of PP film such as the neck-in phenomena during MD stretching and the change of film thickness during MD and TD stretching.