Numerical modeling and experimental investigations of creep behaviour of polycarbonate
Lin Sun, Gang Cheng, Thierry Barrière
Abstract. Polycarbonate is a typical glassy polymer widely used in engineering applications due to its high strength, light weight and recyclability. Its creep behaviour, characterized by time-dependent deformation under varying loads, is critical to predict long-term performance, especially at high temperatures or for long-term application. Classical viscoelastic models, such as Maxwell, Merchant and Burgers, are commonly employed but often difficult to accurately capture the complex nonlinear viscoelastic response of polymers. Fractional-order models are history-dependent and able to capture the entire viscoelastic behaviours. In this study, the creep behaviour of polymers is analyzed by comparing the performance of integer-order and fractional-order models. Experimental creep data are used to identify the parameters of the models and evaluate their prediction accuracy. The results show that the fractional-order model provides significantly enhanced accuracy in describing the creep behaviour under different stresses, demonstrating its superiority in modeling the viscoelastic properties of polymers.
Keywords
Polycarbonate, Creep Behaviour, Classical Viscoelastic Models, Fractional-Order Model
Published online 5/7/2025, 8 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Lin Sun, Gang Cheng, Thierry Barrière, Numerical modeling and experimental investigations of creep behaviour of polycarbonate, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 54, pp 1874-1881, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903599-201
The article was published as article 201 of the book Material Forming
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
References
[1] T. Barriere, X. Gabrion, N. Imane, S. Holopainen, Mechanical degradation and fatigue life of amorphous polymer, Procedia Struct. Int 52 (2024) 105-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prostr.2023.12.011
[2] L. Sun, G. Cheng, T. Barriere, Investigation of temperature-dependent mechanical behaviours of polycarbonate with an innovative fractional-order model, Mater. Res. Proc. 41 (2024) 2174-2181. https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903131-239
[3] M. A. Chowdhury, M. M. Alam, M. M. Rahman, M. A. Islam, Model-based study of creep and recovery of a glassy polymer, Adv. Polym. Technol. 2022 (2022) 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/8032690
[4] R.F. Schmidt, H.H. Winter, M. Gradzielski, Generalized vs. fractional: a comparative analysis of Maxwell models applied to entangled polymer solutions, Soft Matter 20 (2024) 7914–7925. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm00749b
[5] S.Z. Gebrehiwot, L. Espinosa-Leal, Characterising the linear viscoelastic behaviour of an injection moulding grade polypropylene polymer, Mech. Time-Depend. Mater. 26 (2021) 791–814. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11043-021-09513-0
[6] M. Di Paola, A. Pirrotta, A. Valenza, Visco-elastic behavior through fractional calculus: An easier method for best fitting experimental results, Mech. Mater. 43 (2011) 799-806. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mechmat.2011.08.016
[7] J.G. Telles Ribeiro, J.T.P. de Castro, M.A. Meggiolaro, Modeling concrete and polymer creep using fractional calculus, J. Mater. Res. Technol. 12 (2021) 1184-1193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2021.03.007
[8] H.Y. Xu, X.Y. Jiang, Creep constitutive models for viscoelastic materials based on fractional derivatives, Comput. Math. Appl. 6 (2017) 1377-1384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.camwa.2016.05.002
[9] ASTM D3935-21: Standard specification for polycarbonate (PC) unfilled and reinforced material, ASTM International, 2021. https://www.astm.org
[10] ISO 604: Plastics-Determination of compressive properties, International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2002.
[11] H. Tang, D.P. Wang, Z. Duan, New Maxwell creep Model based on fractional and elastic-plastic elements, Adv. Civ. Eng. 2020 (2020) 9170706. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/9170706
[12] X.B. Xu, Z.D. Cui, Investigation of a fractional derivative creep model of clay and its numerical implementation, Comput. Geotech. 119 (2020) 103387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2019.103387
[13] J. Wu, W. Wang, Y.J. Cao, S.F. Liu, Q. Zhang, W.J. Chu, A novel nonlinear fractional viscoelastic–viscoplastic damage creep model for rock-like geomaterials, Comput. Geotech. 163 (2023) 105726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2023.105726
[14] W. Smit, H. De Vries, Rheological models containing fractional derivatives, Rheol. Acta 9 (1970) 525-534. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01985463
[15] Z. Odibat, D. Baleanu, Nonlinear dynamics and chaos in fractional differential equations with a new generalized Caputo fractional derivative, Chin. J. Phys. 77 (2022) 1003-1014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjph.2021.08.018
[16] X. Ding, G. Zhang, B. Zhao, Y. Wang, Unexpected viscoelastic deformation of tight sandstone: Insights and predictions from the fractional Maxwell model. Sci Rep 7 (2017) 11336. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11618-x
