5 Werkstofftechnik
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Polyethylen hoher Dichte (PE-HD) ist ein weit verbreitetes Material für Transportbehälter, die oft für eine längere Nutzungsdauer vorgesehen sind. Insbesondere in diesem Fall können mikroskopische Schäden im Material auch weit unterhalb der Streckgrenze auftreten, die durch eine Spannungskonzentration verursacht werden, deren Ursprung in intrinsischen Materialfehlern oder äußeren Kratzern liegt. Mit fortschreitender Schädigung bilden sich Rissstrukturen, die von verstreckten Fibrillen aufgespannt werden, bis es zum Versagen dieser Fibrillen kommt und sich der Riss ausbreitet. Dieser Schadensmechanismus des langsamen Risswachstums kann durch eine Vielzahl von Umgebungsmedien beschleunigt werden und wird dann als "environmental stress cracking" (ESC) bezeichnet. Eine international normierte Methode zur Validierung der Spannungsrissbeständigkeit von PE-HD Materialien ist der „Full Notch Creep Test“ (FNCT).
Anhand von Bruchflächenauswertungen mittels Rasterelektronenmikroskopie und Laser-Scanning-Mikroskopie, werden die typischen Schädigungsstrukturen des ESC sichtbar. Die fibrillierten Strukturen des ESC auf der Bruchfläche von PE-HD ergeben sich besonders bei oberflächenaktiven wässrigen Umgebungsmedien. In Lösungsmittel-Umgebungsmedien, im Zusammenspiel mit PE-HD, kommt es aufgrund der plastifizierenden Wirkung zur Herabsetzung der Streckspannung und Bruchflächen aus dem FNCT veranschaulichen keine signifikanten Anzeichen des Schädigungsmechanismus ESC.
Currently, the Full Notch Creep Test (FNCT) [1] method is used by material suppliers and end users in industry for the approval of container and pipe materials based on high-density polyethylene (PE-HD). The resistance to environmental stress cracking (ESC) of the material is evaluated using the time to failure of the specimen in an aqueous solution of a detergent [2, 3]. Usually specimens made of sheets with isotropic material properties, manufactured by hot pressing, are employed in order to obtain intrinsic properties of the material in terms of ESC failure. In contrast, the processes used in manufacturing to form containers and pipes, such as extrusion blow molding or extrusion, impose anisotropic properties to the material. These are mostly due to a microstructural orientation (polymer chains or crystallites) [4]. Furthermore, the different cooling conditions significantly affect the size distribution of crystallites as well as the overall morphology. It is therefore essential to understand the influence of process-induced material characteristics on failure due to ESC.
A large number of studies on material properties as a function of microstructural preferential orientation have already been conducted [5-7]. However, effects on ESC as the major failure mechanism of containers and pipes are still rather unexplored [8, 9]. The most important factor is whether primarily intramolecular high-strength covalent bonds or the substantially weaker intermolecular van der Waals forces are predominantly loaded.
In addition to the widely established classification by time to failure, the strain or crack opening displacement (COD) provides valuable information about the evolution and progression of damage as a function of time [10, 11]. Optical strain measurement using digital image correlation allows the differences in COD for isotropic and different angles of orientation of anisotropic specimens to be discussed. Also, a post-fracture surface analysis provides clarification on the craze-crack mechanism of the ESC. These different ESC-related properties of extruded and hot-pressed specimens have been investigated at different environmental medium temperatures and different initial stresses to provide a broad characterization of the fracture behavior of PE-HD.
Molecular orientation has a significant effect on the material properties of polymers. Preferential orientation of the microstructure (polymer chains or crystallites) in a specific direction or plane often enhances the material properties, especially if the high-strength covalent bonds are primarily exposed to loads instead of the weaker van der Waals bonds. However, the orientation-dependent microstructure and its mechanical behavior is in general already well understood by many scientific studies [1-3]. Isotropic materials are frequently required for an intrinsic material characterization without prevailing processing-induced properties, as is the case for Full Notch Creep Test (FNCT) [4] addressing environmental stress cracking (ESC) in high-density polyethylene (PE-HD) [5, 6]. Since ESC is one of the major limiting issues for long-term performance of PE-HD pipes and containers [7], which in contrast have a production-related preferential orientated microstructure due to extrusion or extrusion blow molding, it is important to additionally investigate the ESC resistance of such anisotropic microstructure.
Investigations of the slow crack growth (SCG) with respect to the molecular orientation generally obtain a factor of 1.2 up to 4.7 between crack growth perpendicular to the extrusion direction and crack growth parallel to the extrusion direction 8. Based on FNCT investigations with an aqueous detergent solution as environmental medium, hot pressed sheets with isotropic morphology are compared with extruded sheets from which specimens with different orientation angles are taken. However, the time to failure obtained by FNCT is also significantly influenced by the different cooling conditions under which the final morphology is formed. The tendency of the specimen to fail due to ESC is investigated as a function of environmental medium temperature. For a more detailed analysis of the affecting parameters in the manufacturing process, the ESC resistance is discussed considering the differences in crystallinity as revealed by thermal analysis.
Four typical high-density polyethylene container materials were used to investigate damage or stress cracking behavior in contact with model liquids for crop protection products. These model liquids are established in German regulations for the approval of dangerous goods containers and consist of typical admixtures used for crop protection products but without biological active ingredients. This study is performed with the standardized method of Full Notch Creep Test, adapting the media temperature to 40 °C according to the usual conditions where these test liquids are applied. The two model liquids differ into a water-based solution and a composition based on different organic solvents which are absorbed by the material up to significant levels. Therefore, extensive sorption measurements are performed. The fracture surfaces obtained are analyzed in detail not only by light microscopy, but also by laser scanning microscopy as well as scanning electron microscopy. Influence of pre-saturation and applied stress are addressed by respective systematic series of experiments.