Polymer Testing
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Polymer testing
Plastics testing as a scientific discipline
In the literature, the field of knowledge was initially referred to relatively inconsistently as ‘Werkstoffprüfung der Hochpolymere (materials testing of high polymers)’, ‘Plastwerkstoffprüfung (plastic materials testing)’ or ‘Polymerwerkstoffprüfung (polymer materials testing)’, whereby the subject area to be understood was defined in terms of content. In addition, the description was initially linked to detailed treatises on the structure of plastics and polymer processing, which have also developed into independent scientific disciplines to this day. Today, the term "Kunststoffprüfung (plastics testing)" has become generally accepted in German, and the testing of polymer materials and the components made from them has become very important in the plastics industry. In recent years, a large number of empirically determined facts and experiences have been compiled which, as far as possible, have been subjected to a standardised approach using the findings of materials science. Theoretical assumptions are only made if they can be confirmed by experimental findings.
The interdisciplinary character
Polymer testing, like all other technical scientific disciplines, has a pronounced interdisciplinary character (see Fig.). The picture also shows the particular specifics of polymer testing, which is the connection between polymer synthesis and plastics processing on the one hand and between polymer characterization/analysis and morphology/micromechanics on the other. The terms “plastic” and “polymer” are used synonymously, with the more frequently used term being preferred in the image.
| Fig.: | The interdisciplinary nature of plastics testing |
In order to meet the growing demands on the reliability, safety and service life of machines, systems and components and to rule out fracture as one of the most common causes of failure in plastics, it is necessary to include measurement methods for evaluating the fracture properties. The methods of technical fracture mechanics are used for this purpose. Within polymer science, the material's technology of plastics and plastics application technology have become firmly established as independent fields of knowledge, as can also be seen from the curricula of plastics technology courses. The subject of plastics application technology is designing with plastics, whereby the designer of products made of plastics is increasingly tasked with dimensioning and designing using parameters based on material's science (see also fracture behaviour of plastics components). The disciplines of quality assurance and quality management are also becoming increasingly important, with quality management being understood as the entirety of quality-related activities. An essential component is quality testing, which itself can take many different forms.
An important, but technically difficult to implement step is the online integration of plastics testing methods into the respective production process in order to optimally ensure the quality requirements of the product and the process.
Polymer diagnostics/damage analysis involves the interaction of methods for examining the material composition (analytics), the structural composition, the mechanical, thermal, electrical and optical properties and the reaction with the environment. Particular progress in terms of gaining knowledge is being made in the further development of hybrid methods of polymer diagnostics, which involves the in-situ coupling of mechanical and fracture mechanics experiments with non-destructive testing methods, such as acoustic emission analysis, thermography or laser extensometry (see also: Hybrid methods of plastic diagnostics).
The aim is always to increase the informative value of classic test methods and to derive possibilities for quantifying damage states or limit values (see micro-damage limit and damage analysis).
See also
References
- Grellmann, W.: Zur Herausbildung der Kunststoffprüfung als Wissenschaftsdisziplin. DVM-Nachrichten Nr. 49 (2009) p. 1
- Grellmann, W., Seidler, S. (Eds.): Kunststoffprüfung. Carl Hanser, Munich (2025) 4th Edition, pp. 1–5 (ISBN 978-3-446-44718-9; E-Book: ISBN 978-3-446-48105-3; see AMK-Library under A 23)
- Grellmann, W., Seidler, S. (Eds.): Polymer Testing. Carl Hanser, Munich Vienna (2022) 3rd Edition (ISBN 978-1-56990-807-5; ePub ISBN 978-1-56990-808-2; see AMK-Library under A 22)
- Grellmann, W., Seidler, S. (Eds.): Deformation and Fracture Behaviour of Polymers. Springer Berlin Heidelberg (2001) (ISBN 3-540-41247-6; see AMK-Lirary under A 7)
- Grellmann, W., Seidler, S. (Eds.): Deformation und Bruchverhalten von Kunststoffen. Springer Berlin Heidelberg (1998) (ISBN 3-540-63671-4; e-Book (2014): ISBN 978-3-642-58766-5; see AMK-Library under A 6)
- Grellmann, W., Langer, B. (Eds.): Deformation and Fracture Behaviour of Polymer Materials. Springer Series in Materials Science 247, Springer Berlin Heidelberg (2017) (ISBN 978-3-319-41877-3; e-Book: ISBN 978-3-319-41879-7; see AMK-Library under A 19) https://springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-41879-7
- Further books on plastics testing and technical fracture mechanics of plastics and composites see AMK-Library