Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.69, No.3, 495-502, 1998
Mechanical properties in torsion for poly(butylene terephthalate) and a poly(ether ester) based on poly(ethylene glycol) and poly(butylene terephthalate)
The torsional behavior of poly(ether ester) (PEE) thermoplastic elastomer, based on poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) was studied and compared with that of PET itself. Two types of experiments were performed : (1) stress relaxation in torsion, and (2) measurement of intermittent couple-twist responses. It was shown that the relaxation of the torsional couple M could be represented as a sum of several exponential terms in the time, rather than as a simple exponential function. This sum might be called a Prony series on the analogy of the usual stress relaxation which occurs after stretching a sample to a certain deformation and holding it constant. The intermittent couple-twist experiments were carried out by analogy with similar experiments in elongation. For PEE the couple rises steadily with the twist, whereas for PET it rises abruptly and remains constant within the experimental error for high twists. The residual twist, however, showed a similar trend for both PEE and PET.