화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Vol.40, No.5, 460-465, 2002
Effects of humidity on Young's modulus in poly(methyl methacrylate)
Tensile tests on poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were conducted to clarify the effects of humidity and strain rate on tensile properties, particularly Young's modulus. Prior to the tensile tests, specimens were kept under various humidity conditions at 293 K, which were the same as the test conditions, for a few months to adjust the sorbed water content in the specimens. The tensile tests were performed under each humidity condition at three different strain rates (approximately 1.4 x 10(-3), 1.4 x 10(-4), and 1.4 x 10(-5) s(-1)). Stress-strain curves changed with humidity and strain rate. Young's moduli were also measured at small applied stresses (below 6.7 MPa) under various humidity conditions at 293 K. Young's modulus decreases linearly with increasing humidity and a decreasing logarithm of strain rate. These results suggest that Young's modulus of PMMA can be expressed as a function of two independent parameters that are humidity and strain rate. A constitutive equation for Young's modulus of PMMA was proposed.