SECTION -III

POLYMER PROPERTIES
AND
SINGLE-POINT TESTING

Dr. Yasir Qayyum Gill

Assistant professor
Room No. 116
Department of Polymer and Process Engineering
University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore.
yqgill@gmail.com
Mob. 03337067069 1
 TOPICS
• Analytical tests: Density and specific gravity, water absorption,
moisture analysis, sieve analysis, pourability of plastic
materials
• Material characterization tests: melt flow index (MFI), viscometer
• Mechanical tests: Tensile testing, flexural testing, creep and stress
relaxation, impact testing, hardness
• Thermal properties: Heat deflection temperature, Vicat softening
point, melting point, thermal conductivity, thermal expansion,
brittleness temperature
• Electrical properties: Dielectric strength, dielectric constant and
dissipation factor
• Weathering properties: Accelerated weathering and out-door
weathering
• Optical properties: Refractive index, luminous transmittance and
haze, color, gloss
• Chemical properties: Immersion tests, solvent stress-cracking
resistance, environmental stress-cracking resistance
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• Electrical properties
Dielectric strength
Dielectric constant
Dissipation factor

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Introduction
The unbeatable combination of such characteristics as
• Ease of fabrication
• Low cost
• Light weight and
• Excellent insulation properties
have made plastics one of the most desirable materials for electrical
applications.
Typical electrical applications of plastic material include
• plastic-coated wires
• terminals
• connectors
• industrial and household plugs
• switches and
printed circuit boards.
•
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Introduction
• The following are the typical requirements of an insulator:
1. An insulator must have a high enough dielectric
strength to withstand an electrical field between the
conductors.
2. An insulator must possess good arc resistance to
prevent damage in case of arcing.
3. An insulator must maintain integrity under a wide
variety of environmental hazards such as humidity,
temperature, and radiation.
4. Insulating materials must be mechanically strong
enough to resist vibration shocks and other mechanical
forces.
5. An insulator must have high insulation resistance to
prevent leakage of current across the conductors.
• The key electrical properties of interest are dielectric strength,
dielectric constant, dissipation factor, volume and surface
resistivity, and arc resistance. 5
 DIELECTRIC STRENGTH (ASTM D 149)
The dielectric strength of an insulating material is defined as the
maximum voltage required to produce a dielectric breakdown.

• Dielectric strength is expressed in volts per unit

of thickness such as V/mm.
• All insulators allow a small amount of current Three basic procedures have
to leak through or around themselves. been developed to determine
• Only a perfect insulator, if there is such an dielectric strength of an
insulator in existence, can be completely free insulator:
from small current leakage. 1. short-time method
2. slow rate-of-rise
• The small leakage generates heat, providing an method
easier access to more current. 3. step-by-step test
method
• The process slowly accelerates with time and
the amount of voltage applied until a failure in
terms of dielectric breakdown, or what is known
as puncture, occurs.
• The higher the dielectric strength, the better
the quality of an insulator. 6
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Short-time method:
• In this method, the voltage is increased from zero to breakdown at uniform rate.
• The rate of rise is generally 100, 500, 1000, or 3000 V/sec until the failure occurs.
• The failure is made evident by actual rupture or decomposition of the specimen.
• Sometimes a circuit breaker or other similar device is employed to signal the voltage
breakdown.
• This is not considered a positive indication of voltage breakdown because other factors such
as flashover, leakage current, corona current, or equipment magnetizing current can influence
such indicating devices.
Step-by-step test method: A variable transformer and a pair of
• Requires applying initial voltage equal to 50 electrodes are normally employed.
percent of the breakdown voltage, as
determined by the short-time test, and then
increasing the voltage in equal increments and
holding for specified time periods until the
specimen breaks down.
• In almost all cases, the dielectric strength
values obtained by the step-by-step method
corresponds better with actual use conditions.
• However, the service failures are generally at
voltage below the rated dielectric strength
because of the time factor involved

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 DIELECTRIC CONSTANT AND DISSIPATION FACTOR
(ASTM D 150, IEC 250)
The dielectric constant of an insulating material is defined as
the ratio of the charge stored in an insulating material placed
between two metallic plates to the charge that can be stored
when the insulating material is replaced by air (or vacuum).

• Defined another way, the dielectric constant is the ratio of the

capacitance by two metallic plates with an insulator placed
between them and the capacitance of the same plates with a
vacuum between them.

Capacitance,Material as dielectric
Dielectric constant =
Capacitance, Air (or Vacuum) as dielectric

• Simply stated, the dielectric constant indicates the ability of an

insulator to store electrical energy.

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DIELECTRIC CONSTANT AND DISSIPATION FACTOR
(ASTM D 150, IEC 250)
• In many applications, insulating materials are required to
perform as capacitors.
• Such applications are best served by plastic materials having a
high dielectric constant.
• Materials with a high dielectric constant have also helped in
reducing the physical size of the capacitors.
• Furthermore, the thinner the insulating material, the higher
the capacitance.
• Because of this fact, plastic foils are extensively used in
applications requiring high capacitance.
• One of the main functions of an insulator is to insulate the
current-carrying conductors from each other and from the
ground.
• If the insulator is used strictly for this purpose, it is desirable
to have the capacitance of the insulating material as small as
possible.
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DIELECTRIC CONSTANT AND DISSIPATION FACTOR
(ASTM D 150, IEC 250)
• The dielectric constant test is fairly simple. The test specimen
is placed between the two electrodes, and the capacitance is
measured.
• Next, the test specimen is replaced by air and the capacitance
value is again measured.
• The dielectric constant value is determined from the ratio of
the two measurements.

Dielectric constant
values are affected
by factors such as

• frequency,
• voltage,
• temperature,
and
• humidity 12
Dissipation Factor
• The dissipation factor is a measure of such electrical
inefficiency of the insulating material.
• The dissipation factor indicates the amount of energy
dissipated by the insulating material when the voltage is
applied to the circuit.
• The dissipation factor is defined as the ratio of the conductance
of a capacitor in which the material is the dielectric to its
susceptance or the ratio of its parallel reactance to its parallel
resistance.
• Most plastics have a relatively lower dissipation factor at room
temperature.
• However, at high temperatures, the dissipation factor is quite
high, resulting in greater overall inefficiency in the electrical
system.
• The loss factor which is the product of dielectric constant and
the dissipation factor, is a frequently used term, which relates
to the total loss of power occurring in insulating materials.
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• Weathering Properties
Accelerated weathering
Out-door weathering

Chapter 5
Vishu Shah, Handbook of Plastics Testing and Failure
Analysis, Third Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007 (ISBN-
13: 978-0471671893)
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WEATHERING PROPERTIES
• The major environmental factors that seriously affect plastics
are:

1. Solar radiations—UV, IR, visible X-rays

2. Microorganisms, bacteria, fungus, and
mold
3. High humidity
4. Ozone and oxygen
5. Water: vapor, liquid, or solid
6. Thermal energy
7. Pollution: industrial chemicals
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ACCELERATED WEATHERING TESTS
• Most data on the aging of plastics are acquired through
accelerated tests and actual outdoor exposure.
• The latter is a time-consuming method, accelerated tests are
often used to expedite screening the samples with various
combinations of additive levels and ratios.
• A variety of light sources are used to simulate the natural
sunlight.
• There are three major accelerated weathering tests:
1. Exposure to carbon arc lamps
2. Exposure to xenon arc lamps
3. Exposure to fluorescent UV lamps
• The xenon arc, when properly filtered, most closely
approximates the wavelength distribution of natural sunlight.
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Fluorescent UV Exposure of Plastics
(ASTM D4329, ISO 4892-5)
• This method simulates the deterioration caused by
sunlight and dew by means of artificial ultraviolet
light and condensation apparatus.
• Solar radiation ranges from ultraviolet to infrared.
• Ultraviolet light of wavelengths between 290 and
350 nm is the most efficient portion of terrestrial
sunlight that is damaging to plastics.
• In the natural sunlight spectrum, energy below 400
nm accounts for less than 6 percent of the total
radiant energy.
• Since the special fluorescent UV lamps radiate
between 280 and 350 nm, they accelerate the
degradation process considerably.
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Fluorescent UV Exposure of Plastics
(ASTM D4329, ISO 4892-5)

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Fluorescent UV Exposure of Plastics
(ASTM D4329, ISO 4892-5)

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Fluorescent UV Exposure of Plastics
(ASTM D4329, ISO 4892-5)

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Xenon Arc Exposure of Plastics Intended for Outdoor
Applications (ASTM D 2526, G 26, ISO 4892-2)
• A water-cooled xenon-arc-type light source is one of the most
popular indoor exposure tests since it exhibits a spectral energy
distribution of sunlight at the surface of the earth.
• The xenon arc lamp consists of a burner tube and a light filter
system consisting of interchangeable glass filters used in
combination to provide a spectral distribution that
approximates natural sunlight exposure conditions

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Xenon Arc Exposure of Plastics Intended for Outdoor
Applications (ASTM D 2526, G 26, ISO 4892-2)
• The apparatus has a built-in recirculating system that
recirculates distilled or deionized water through the lamp.
• The water cools the xenon burner and filters out long
wavelength infrared energy.

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OUTDOOR WEATHERING OF PLASTICS
(ASTM D 1435, ISO-877)
• One quarter of all polymers end up in outdoor applications
• For industries,

Outdoor weathering tests to evaluate the

stability of plastic materials to complex and
changeable weather exposure conditions have
become very popular.

• Important factors:
• Climate
• Time of year
• The presence of industrial atmosphere
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Conditions of testing
• Repeated exposure testing at different seasons
• Over a period of more than one year
• Control samples utilized and retained at standard conditions of
temperature and humidity for comparison with actual
specimens
• Test sites should be selected to represent various conditions
under which the plastic product will be used.
• Test sites are selected to represent various conditions under
which the plastic product will be used.
• Exposure test specimens of suitable shape or size are mounted
in a holder directly applied to the racks.
• Racks are positioned at a 45° angle and facing the equator.

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OUTDOOR WEATHERING OF PLASTICS
(ASTM D 1435, ISO-877)

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OUTDOOR WEATHERING OF PLASTICS
(ASTM D 1435, ISO-877)

• The specimens are removed from the racks after a specified amount
of time and subjected to appearance evaluation, electrical tests, and
mechanical tests.
• The results are compared with the test results from control specimens.

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