Viscoelastic Characterization and Mechanical Hystheresis of Commercial Grade Polypropylene

Abstract

The main objective of this project is to investigate the viscoelastic behavior of polypropylene material. The theory of viscoelasticity is used to understand how a polypropylene material can be modeled mathematically to make a complete analysis. The timedependent stress-strain response of the polypropylene material is investigated with the relaxation test that is carried out with the material. Then the required parameters for mathematical models such as elasticity or stiffness, k or E, along with the relaxation time, 𝝉, is found to illustrate this behavior. The response curve from experiments is compared with the analytical study with the theory that includes the mathematical models to complete a finite element analysis on Marc. The curve that is achieved from this analysis overlapped with the one coming from the analytical study. Forced oscillation procedure is carried out in Marc to simulate the dynamic analysis test. Internal energy loss of the specimen is inspected via the hysteresis graph.