Effect of temperature on the viscoelastic and viscoplastic behavior of polypropylene

Observations are reported on isotactic polypropylene in tensile tests with various cross-head speeds and relaxation tests in a wide interval of temperatures ranging from room temperature to 120°C. A constitutive model is derived for the viscoelastic and viscoplastic responses of a semicrystalline polymer at arbitrary deformations with small strains. The stress–strain relations involve 6 adjustable parameters that are found by fitting the experimental data. The presence of a critical temperature is demonstrated at which some parameters of the model reach their maxima. This temperature is associated with the α-relaxation temperature of polypropylene.