Relationships between molecular and plane-stress essential work of fracture parameters in amorphous copolyesters

The plane-stress fracture toughness of amorphous copolyester (aCOP) sheets of different intrinsic viscosity (IV) was determined by the essential work of fracture (EWF) concept using tensile-loaded deeply double-edge notched (DDEN-T) specimens. It was found that the specific essential work of fracture (we) is a composite parameter: its constituents are relied on yielding (w(e),y) and necking (w(e),n), respectively. The we values, and especially we,y did not change as a function of IV. This finding along with the fact that the mean entanglement length of the aCOP series was constant, suggest that w(e),y (which is related to the critical plane-strain toughness value) is likely dependent on the entanglement network. This assumption was reasoned by the observation that the plastic zone was completely recovered after annealing the specimen beyond the glass transition temperature (T-g) Recall that the shape recovery in case of cold-drawing (i.e. deformation below T-g) is controlled by the initial entanglement network structure in amorphous polymers.