| Solid state die drawing of polymer matrix composite materials offers an opportunity to make products that cannot be produced by any other method. This is done by heating a composite billet to a temperature just below the melting point and drawing it through a heated converging die by pulling from the downstream side. Since this is done at high temperatures, it is imperative to understand the behavior of the polymer and the composites at high temperature. Therefore, in this work, the stress-strain behavior of neat polypropylene and polypropylene composites with glass flake and glass bead fillers was studied at 23°C, 130°C, and 145°C. The onset of debonding was found to occur at a lower stress and strain for the composites tested at higher temperature, while the loss of reinforcement was slower at the elevated temperatures. The interfacial interaction between the filler and matrix was also determined to be greater at elevated temperatures. The presence of filler particles also changed the character of the stress-strain curves at higher temperatures. Specifically, the filler induced a sharper neck region in the composites at elevated temperature. Annealing for one hour at temperatures between 130°C and 145°C produced a secondary, lower melting temperature peak in the DSC curves, which increased in prominence with increasing temperature. This increase in prominence was greater for the composites than for the neat polymer. Finally, the onset of debonding was studied using transverse strain vs. stress curves for the two composites. The debonding stress decreased with increasing temperature for both materials, and it was determined that stress amplification at the interface is greater for the flake composite than for the bead composite. |
