Impact strength of polymers 2: The effect of cold working and residual stress in polycarbonates

Abstract The influence of cold working on the toughness improvement in glassy amorphous polycarbonates was studied. Cold working processes, namely rolling and. Steckel rolling were used to produce thickness reductions up to 40 percent in flat‐strip specimens. The notched Izod impact strength and tensile properties were measured as a function of strip thickness reduction. It was shown that the toughness enhancement in polycarbonates cold worked to low thickness reductions was due to the residual stress state present as opposed to molecular orientation which becomes significant at higher degrees of cold work. Residual stress measurements were made by using the layer removal technique. Residual tensile stresses as high as 2100 psi were present in 1/4‐in. cold‐rolled polycarbonate at the surface. The maximum stress in the center of the specimen was 1100 psi in compression. The residual stresses at the surface decreased with increasing thickness reduction. The residual stress state for Steckel rolled. 1/2‐in. polycarbonate was also measured and found to be more complex than for the thinner samples, The results demonstrated that surface tensile stresses and interior compressive stresses can produce large values of impact strength if the notch is to be machined after cold working. Thus, the values of impact strength measured from the notch Izod specimen are sensitive to the residual stress state in the polymer. This behavior is in contrast to earlier studies on thermally quenched material in which the material was quenched after notching. The thermal quenching produced surface compressive stresses which were also present at the notch tip. The presence of compressive residual stresses at the center of the notch suppressed the formation of a craze leading to toughness enhancement in cold worked polycarbonate strips. It is shown that by control of residual stresses in polycarbonate, strips at least 1/2 in. in thickness can be made to exhibit ductile failure in the notched Izod impact test.