SECTION -III

POLYMER PROPERTIES
AND
SINGLE-POINT TESTING

Dr. Yasir Qayyum Gill

Assistant professor
Room No. 116
Department of Polymer and Process Engineering
University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore.
[email protected]
Mob. 03337067069 1
 TOPICS
• Analytical tests: Density and specific gravity, water absorption,
moisture analysis, sieve analysis, pourability of plastic
materials
• Material characterization tests: melt flow index (MFI), viscometer
• Mechanical tests: Tensile testing, flexural testing, creep and stress
relaxation, impact testing, hardness
• Thermal properties: Heat deflection temperature, Vicat softening
point, melting point, thermal conductivity, thermal expansion,
brittleness temperature
• Electrical properties: Dielectric strength, dielectric constant and
dissipation factor
• Weathering properties: Accelerated weathering and out-door
weathering
• Optical properties: Refractive index, luminous transmittance and
haze, color, gloss
• Chemical properties: Immersion tests, solvent stress-cracking
resistance, environmental stress-cracking resistance
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• Optical properties
Refractive index
Luminous transmittance
Haze
Gloss

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Introduction
Unique properties, such as

1. excellent clarity and

transparency

2. good impact strength

However,
3. moldability
1. Lack of dimensional stability
4. low cost over a wider range of
temperatures and
have made plastics the number-one 2. Poor scratch resistance
choice of many design engineers.
have prevented further penetration
Plastics are much more resistant to of plastics in the markets for
impact than glass and, therefore, in 1. Expensive camera lenses
applications such as 2. Microscopes and
• street-lamp globes 3. Other precision optics
where the use of glass is
• high school windows glass fairly common.
has been replaced by high-impact
vandal-resistant plastic materials
such as polycarbonate.
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Introduction
• Almost all plastics, below certain minimum thickness, are
translucent. Only a few plastics are transparent.
• Plastic materials’ transparency or translucency depends upon
their basic polymer structure.
• Generally, all amorphous plastics are transparent.
• Crystallinity increases the density of the polymer, which
decreases the speed of light passing through it and this
increases the refractive index.
• When crystals are larger than the wavelength of the visible
light, the light passing through many successive crystalline
and amorphous areas is scattered, and the clarity of the
polymer is decreased.
• A large single crystal scatters light at wide angles and thus
causes haze.
• As a rule, crystalline plastics are translucent. However, the
clarity of crystalline plastics can be improved by quenching or
random copolymerization 5
 REFRACTIVE INDEX (ASTM D 542, ISO 489)
• The refractive index, also known as the index of refraction, is
defined as the ratio of the velocity of light in a vacuum (or air)
to its velocity in a transparent medium.
sin of angle of incidence
Index of refraction =
sin of angle of refraction

Two basic methods are most commonly employed to determine the index of
refraction.
• The first method, known as the refractometric method, requires the use of a
refractometer.
An alternate method calls for the use of a microscope with a magnifycation power of
at least 200 diameters.
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 Refractometric Method
• The Abbé refractometer is the
refractometer most widely
used to determine the index of
refraction.
• The test also requires a source
of white light and a contacting
liquid that will not attack the
surface of the plastic.
• The contacting liquid must
also have a higher refractive
index than the plastic being
measured.
• The surface of the specimen in
contact with the prism must
be optically flat and polished.
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 Refractometric Method
• The test is carried out by placing a specimen in contact with the
prism using a drop of contacting fluid.
• Contacting fluid must have a higher refractive index than the
sample to be analyzed.
• Next, looking through the eye piece, the shadowline control knob is
adjusted until the shadowline comes into the field of view.
• The dispersion correction wheel is adjusted to remove all the color
from the shadowline.
• The shadowline should appear black with a sharp boundary, with
white to off-white background.
• Finally the edge of the shadowline is aligned with the center of the
crosshairs and the value of the index of refraction is read.

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LUMINOUS TRANSMITTANCE AND HAZE
(ASTM D 1003) • The value is generally reported in
Luminous percentage of light transmitted.
transmittance is • PMMA, for example, transmits 92 percent
defined as the ratio of of the normal incident light.
transmitted light to • There is about 4 percent reflection at each
the incident light. polymer–air interface for normal incident
light.

Haze is defined as the

percentage of transmitted light
which in passing through a
specimen deviates from the
incident beam by forward
scattering.

• Haze is the cloudy appearance of an otherwise transparent specimen

caused by light scattered from within the specimen or from its surface.
• It is generally accepted that if the amount of transmitted light is
deviated more than 2.5° from the incident beam, the light flux is
considered to be haze.
• Haze is normally caused by surface imperfections, density changes, or
inclusions that produce light scattering. 9
 Test Procedure
• This procedure employs an integrating sphere hazemeter.
• The test specimen must be large enough to cover the aperture, but small enough to be
tangent to the sphere wall.
• A disc of 2.00 in. in diameter is most commonly used.

The test is conducted by taking four different consecutive readings and measuring
the photocell output as follows:
T1 = specimen and light trap out of position, reflectance standard in position
T2 = specimen and reflectance standard in position, light trap out of position
T3 = light trap in position, specimen and reflectance standard out of position
T4 = specimen and light trap in position, reflectance standard out of position
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Test Procedure
The quantities represented in each reading are incident light,
total light transmitted by specimen, light scattered by instrument,
and light scattered by instrument and specimen, respectively.

Total transmittance Tt and diffuse

transmittance Td are calculated as
follows:
𝑻𝟐
𝑻𝒕 =
𝑻𝟏
𝑻
[𝑻𝟒 − 𝑻𝟑 𝑻𝟐 ]
𝟏
𝑻𝒅 =
𝑻𝟏
The percentage of haze is calculated as
follows:
𝑻𝟐
𝑯𝒂𝒛𝒆 =
𝑻𝟏

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Gloss (ASTM D2457, D523)
Specular gloss is defined as the
relative luminous reflectance factor
of a specimen at the specular
direction.

• This method has been

developed to correlate the
visual observations of
surface shininess made at
roughly corresponding
angles.
• The light beam is directed
toward the specimen at a
specified angle and the light
reflected by the specimen is
collected and measured.
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Gloss (ASTM D2457, D523)
• The glossmeter basically consists of a source-optical assembly, which
houses an incandescent light source, a condenser lens, and a projection or
source lens.
• An incident beam, created by this assembly, is directed toward the
specimen.
• A sensitive photodetector collects the reflected light and generates an
electrical signal that is amplified to energize an analog or digital panel
meter to display the value in gloss units.

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Gloss (ASTM D2457, D523)
• All specular gloss values are based on a primary reference
standard—a highly polished black glass with an assigned
specular gloss value of 100.
• Three basic angles of incidence—20°, 60°, and 85°—are used for
specular gloss measurement of plastic parts.
• As the angle of incidence increases, the value of gloss of any
surface also increases.
• The operation of a glossmeter is very simple.
• The instrument is turned on and placed on a black glass
primary standard.
• The control knob is adjusted so that the meter indicates the
value assigned to the primary standard.
• Next, the sensor is placed on the specimen surface and the
gloss value is read directly from the analog or digital display.
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Chemical Properties
Immersion tests
Solvent stress-cracking resistance
Environmental stress-cracking
resistance

Chapter 9
Vishu Shah, Handbook of Plastics Testing and Failure Analysis,
Third Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007 (ISBN-13: 978-
0471671893)
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Chemical Properties
• Chemical resistance of plastics is a complex subject.
• The test results are often misinterpreted by
engineers and designers.
• Material selection is made without a proper
understanding of the tests’ limitations and how the
results are derived.
• Extremely strong and tough plastic like
polycarbonate has limited applications because of its
poor chemical resistance.
• Polypropylene, on the other hand, has poor physical
properties but is impervious to most chemicals and
solvents.

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IMMERSION TEST (ASTM D 543, ISO 175)
• The method of measuring the resistance of plastics
to chemical reagents by simple immersion of
processed plastic specimens is a standard procedure
used throughout the plastics industry.
• The method can only be used to compare the relative
resistance of various plastics to typical chemical
reagents.
• The test results do not provide a direct
indication of suitability of a particular plastic
for end-use application in certain chemical
environments.
• The test equipment consists of a precision chemical
balance, micrometers, immersion containers, an oven
or a constant-temperature bath, and a testing device
for measuring physical properties.
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IMMERSION TEST (ASTM D 543, ISO 175)
• The dimensions and type of test specimens are dependent upon
the form of the material and tests to be performed.
• At least three test specimens are used for each material being
tested and each reagent involved.
• For studying the weight and dimension change, each specimen
is weighed and its thickness is measured.
• The specimens are totally immersed in a container for seven
days in a standard laboratory atmosphere, in such a way that
no contact is made with the wall or the bottom of the container.
• After seven days, the specimens are removed from the
container and weighed. The dimensions are remeasured.

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SOLVENT STRESS-CRACKING RESISTANCE
• The solvent stress-cracking phenomenon occurs in all plastics at varying
degrees.
• The method employs a specimen of size 4 × 1 × 0.03 in. strapped to an
elliptical jig.
• The entire assembly is immersed in a reagent.
• Because of the elliptical design of the jig, the stress at the high end of the
jig is extremely low.
• Conversely, the stress at the low end of the jig is extremely high.
• The level of stress in the specimen at different points on the jig can be
calculated.
• After 1 min, the specimen is observed for crazing.
• The point at which the crazing stops is considered the critical stress point.
• The critical stress value at this point is determined from a previously
calculated value.
• If no crazing is observed after 1 min, the test is continued for several
hours.
• The test may also be carried out at elevated temperatures to accelerate
the stress-cracking process.
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SOLVENT STRESS-CRACKING RESISTANCE

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ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS-CRACKING RESISTANCE
(ASTM D 1693, ISO 4599)
• Environmental stress cracking is the failure in surface-
initiated brittle fracture of a polyethylene specimen, or a part
under polyaxial stress, in contact with a medium in the absence
of which fracture does no occur under the same conditions of
stress.
• Combinations of external and/or internal stresses may be
involved, and the sensitizing medium may be gaseous, liquid,
semisolid, or solid.

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ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS-CRACKING RESISTANCE
(ASTM D 1693, ISO 4599)

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ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS-CRACKING RESISTANCE
(ASTM D 1693, ISO 4599)

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