Polymer Review Assignment 1 Due: Nov 02, 2021, 6 p.m.

Answer the following questions. Make ample use of references as necessary.

1. What are the major differences between the properties of plastics and metals?

2. What properties are influenced by the degree of polymerization?

3. Why would we want to synthesize a polymer with a high degree of crystallinity?

Discuss various ways to increase the degree of crystallinity in a polymer.

4. Imagine a semi-crystalline polymer is being loaded (“cold-drawn”) under tension.

Referring to the schematic representation below, describe the step-by-step
morphological changes that take place at the molecular level.

5. Discuss the significance of the glass transition temperature, Tg, in engineering

applications.

6. What is “cross-linking” and why does it improve the strength of polymers?

7. Give several examples of plastic products or components for which creep and stress
relaxation are important considerations.
Polymer Review Assignment 1 Due: Nov 02, 2021, 6 p.m.

8. Engineering stress-strain data from a tension test on PMMA polymer are given in the
following table. The specimen had a rectangular cross section with original
dimensions width 12.61 and thickness 2.92 mm. After fracture, these dimensions
were the same within the repeatability of the measurement. Determine the
following: elastic modulus, yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, percent
elongation, and percent reduction in area. (Hint: Generate a stress-strain curve
computationally (e.g. using Excel) and find the properties graphically.)

 [MPa]  [%]  [MPa]  [%]

0 0 49.5 1.729
9.00 0.241 53.7 1.960
17.20 0.490 57.7 2.23
24.8 0.733 60.6 2.46
32.3 0.995 63.3 2.75
38.7 1.239 64.9 2.95
44.6 1.487 66.3 3.19
(Final point is fracture.)

9. At 600C, a silica glass has an elastic modulus of E = 60 GPa and a tensile viscosity of
 = 1000 GPa-s. Assuming that the following elastic, steady-state creep model of (a)
in the figure below applies, determine the response to a stress of 10 MPa maintained
for 1 minute and then removed. Plot both stress versus strain for a total time
interval of 2 minutes.

10. A polymer has constants for the elastic transient creep model of (b) (in the figure
above) of E1 = 3 GPa, E2 = 4 GPa, and 2 = 105 GPa-s. Determine and plot the strain
versus time response for a stress of 40 MPa applied for one day.

11. What is the molecular weight of polypropylene (PP), with a degree of polymerization
of 3×104 ?
Polymer Review Assignment 1 Due: Nov 02, 2021, 6 p.m.

12. What is the usually encountered molecular weight breadth for commercial polymer?