TY - CONF A1 - Weltschev, Margit A1 - Schwarzer, Stefanie A1 - Eiben, Mario T1 - Comparison of the environmental stress cracking behaviour of polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate as materials for dangerous goods packagings N2 - The chemical industry has expressed great interest in using polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as material for packagings for the transport of dangerous goods. Due to the high strength and stiffness of PET, the wall thickness and weight of packagings can be reduced. This is a relevant cost factor. PET is a semi-crystalline thermoplast which is produced by polycondensation of terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol. According to the European dangerous goods regulations RID and ADR, samples of PET design types of packagings for dangerous goods must be pre-stored with the original filling good for six months at 23°C, before the design type tests can be carried out. For packagings made of polyethylene (PE) tests to prove the stress cracking resistance by using laboratory methods are possible to reduce time and costs. Therefore, standard liquids, simulating the different types of damaging effects on PE are defined in RID and ADR. However, there is no information and research available about the damaging mechanisms on PET in comparison to PE, especially regarding to stress cracking resistance and test methods. The aim of this work is to compare the stress cracking resistance of PE and PET with the Full Notch Creep Test (FNCT), which was developed by chemical industry and is described in the standards EN ISO 16101 and EN 15507. It was investigated whether testing specimens made of PE and PET with a full coplanar notch around the middle of the specimens show weakening after the impact of a tensile force in a wetting solution (Lutensol® FSA 10) at 50°C in a test device on the basis of the FNCT. The test results confirmed the suitability of the method for eight PE grades. Unfortunately, this method couldn’t be used for PET because the specimens broke during notching. In addition the molding of the sheets and the following temper process for twelve hours are very time-consuming, and the specimens broke during notching due to the high brittleness of PET. Another possibility to provide evidence of stress cracking resistance of PE packagings is laid down in BAM’s Dangerous Goods Rule BAM-GGR 015. This test was carried out with PE and PET bottles to compare both materials. Therefore 1l test bottles were filled with a 5% wetting solution and mounted with a clamping tool for 28 days at 40°C. Tensile test specimens were cut out afterwards from the middle of the bottles in the deformed areas. Tensile strength and breaking elongation of PE specimens were determined in comparison to the PET specimens. The tensile properties of the PET specimens couldn’t be determined due to the strength and the stiffness of the material. In conclusion the only way to provide information about the stress cracking resistance of PET was to perform stacking tests. 1l bottles made of PE and PET were filled with a 5% wetting solution and stored with a stacking load for 28 days at 40°C according to EN ISO 16495. Design types of PE and PET both passed the stacking tests. T2 - EUROCORR 2016 CY - Montpellier, France DA - 11.09.2016 KW - polyethylene terephthalate KW - stress cracking resistance KW - test methods KW - dangerous goods packagings PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-37448 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -