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The purpose of this paper is to compare mechanical response of polypropylene in multi‐cycle tensile tests with strain‐controlled and mixed deformation programs and to develop constitutive equations that describe quantitatively the experimental data.

Multi‐cycle tensile tests are performed on isotactic polypropylene with strain‐controlled (oscillations between fixed maximum and minimum strains) and mixed (oscillations between a fixed maximum strain and the zero minimum stress) programs. A constitutive model is derived in cyclic viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity of semicrystalline polymers, and its parameters are found by fitting observations. The effect of damage accumulation of material parameters is analyzed numerically.

The model predicts accurately mechanical behavior of polypropylene in tests with numbers of cycles strongly exceeding those used to determine its parameters. In the regime of developed damage, material constants in the stress‐strain relations are independent of deformation program.

A novel constitutive model is derived in cyclic viscoelastoplasticity of semicrystalline polymers and comparison of its adjustable parameters is performed for different deformation programs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a computational procedure for a novel damage‐coupled material law for semicrystalline polyethylene. Using a damage mechanics approach, the model seeks to gain insight into the mechanical behaviour of polyethylene considering the microstructure and degradation processes occurring under uniaxial tension.

The material morphology is modelled as a collection of inclusions. Each inclusion consists of crystalline material lying in a thin lamella attached to an amorphous layer. The interface region interconnecting the two phases is the plane through which loads are carried and transferred by the tie molecules. It is assumed that the constitutive model contains complete information about the mechanical behaviour and degradation processes of each constituent. After modelling the two phases independently, the inclusion behaviour is found by applying some compatibility and equilibrium restrictions along the interface plane.

The model provides a rational representation of the damage process of the intermolecular bonds holding crystals and of the tie‐molecules connecting neighbouring crystallites. The model is also used to analyze the degree of relationship between some of the material properties and the mechanical responses.

In practice, the numerical model clearly helps to understand the influence of the different microstructure properties on the tensile mechanical behaviour of semicrystalline polyethylene – an issue of particular interest in improving material processability and product performance.

To the authors’ knowledge, a phenomenon such as microstructural degradation of polyethylene has not received much attention in the literature. The proposed model successfully captures aspects of the material behaviour considering crystal fragmentation and tie‐molecule rupture.

This work aims to develop a new kind of semicrystalline polymer filament and optimize its printing parameters in the fused deposition modeling process. The purpose of this work also includes producing FDM parts with good ductility.

A new kind of semicrystalline filaments composed of long-chain polyamide (PA)1012 was prepared by controlling screw speed and pulling speed carefully. The optimal printing parameters for PA1012 filaments were explored through investigating dimensional accuracy and bonding strength of FDM parts. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of PA1012 specimens were also evaluated by varying nozzle temperatures and raster angles.

It is found that PA1012 filaments can accommodate for FDM process under suitable printing parameters. The print quality and mechanical properties of FDM parts highly depend on nozzle temperature and bed temperature. Even though higher temperatures facilitate stronger interlayer bonding, FDM parts with excellent tensile strength were obtained at a moderate nozzle temperature. Moreover, a bed temperature well above the glass transition temperature of PA1012 can eliminate shrinkage and distortion of FDM parts. As expected, FDM parts prepared with PA1012 filaments exhibit good ductility.

Results in this work demonstrate that the PA1012 filament allows the production of FDM parts with desired mechanical performance. This indicates the potential for overcoming the dependence on amorphous thermoplastics as a feedstock in the FDM technique. This work also provides insight into the effect of materials properties on the mechanical performance of FDM-printed parts.

Plastics are the engineering materials for future technological development. Advances in plastics processing and fabrication techniques have facilitated the production of novel plastics devices and components in major business sectors such as the automotive, medical and packaging industries. Reviews the current techniques available for welding plastics material and highlights their advantages, limitations and stage of development.

PEEK is an abbreviation for polyetheretherketone, a high performance engineering semicrystalline thermoplastic. This material can operate at higher temperatures and has excellent friction and wear properties, which are optimised in the specially formulated tribological grade PEEK‐CF30. The purpose of this work was to develop a thermo‐mechanical model to predict the tribological behaviour of the composite PEEK‐CF30/steel pair, in dry sliding, related to friction and wear with the pv factor, the temperature and the sliding distance, using multiple regression analysis (MRA).

This paper presents a new thermo‐mechanical model to predict the tribological behaviour of the composite PEEK‐CF30/steel pair, in dry sliding, using MRA. A plan of experiments was performed on a pin‐on‐disc machine PLINT TE67HT^®.

The objective was to establish a thermo‐mechanical model to predict the PEEK‐CF30 behaviour related to friction and wear with the pv factor (product of apparent pressure of contact and sliding velocity), the temperature and the sliding distance. This model was obtained by multiple linear regression. Finally, confirmation tests were performed to make a comparison between the obtained results from the mentioned model and the experimental results.

The novel element of this paper is the application of design experiments and MRA in tribological model behaviour in an advanced material – PEEK‐CF 30.

The purpose of this paper is to perform experimental investigation and constitutive modeling of the viscoelastic and viscoplastic behavior of metallocene catalyzed polypropylene (mPP) with application to lifetime assessment under conditions of creep rupture.

Three series of experiments are conducted where the mechanical response of mPP is analyzed in tensile tests with various strain rates, relaxation tests with various strains, and creep tests with various stresses at room temperature. A constitutive model is derived for semicrystalline polymers under an arbitrary three‐dimensional deformation with small strains, and its parameters are found fitting the observations.

Crystalline structure and molecular architecture of polypropylene strongly affect its time‐ and rate‐dependent behavior. In particular, time‐to‐failure of metallocene catalyzed polypropylene under tensile creep noticeably exceeds that of isotactic polypropylene produced by the conventional Ziegler‐Natta catalysis.

Novel stress‐strain relations are developed in viscoelastoplasticity of semi‐crystalline polymers and applied to predict their mechanical behavior in long‐term creep tests.

The mechanical and tribological properties of polymers and polymer composites vary with different environmental conditions. This paper aims to review the influence of humidity/water conditions on various polymers and polymer composites' mechanical properties and tribological behaviors.

The influence of humidity and water absorption on mechanical and tribological properties of various polymers, fillers and composites has been discussed in this paper. Tensile strength, modulus, yield strength, impact strength, COF and wear rates of polymer composites are compared for different environmental conditions. The interaction between the water molecules and hydrophobic polymers is also represented.

Pure polymer matrices show somewhat mixed behavior in humid environments. Absorbed moisture generally plasticizes the epoxies and polyamides and lowers the tensile strength, yield strength and modulus. Wear rates of PVC generally decrease in humid environments, while for polyamides, it increases. Fillers like graphite and boron-based compounds exhibit low COF, while MoS2 particulate fillers exhibit higher COF at high humidity and water conditions. The mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced polymer composites tend to decrease as the rate of humidity increases while the wear rates of fiber-reinforced polymer composites show somewhat mixed behavior. Particulate fillers like metals and advanced ceramics reinforced polymer composites exhibit low COF and wear rates as the rate of humidity increases.

The mechanical and tribological properties of polymers and polymer composites vary with the humidity value present in the environment. In dry conditions, wear loss is determined by the hardness of the contacting surfaces, which may not effectively work for high humid environments. The tribological performance of composite constituents, i.e. matrix and fillers in humid environments, defines the overall performance of polymer composite in said environments.

The lateral force mode of atomic force microscopy (AFM) was applied to conduct friction tests on a filled PTFE/PPS‐composite blend. This method distinguishes between the individual phases of the blend, i.e. carbon fibers, PPS‐particles, PTFE‐matrix and graphite flakes. The relative frictional behaviours of the different filler types were compared and the law of microfriction was discussed.

This paper aims to present a survey concerning the accuracy of thermoplastic polymeric parts fabricated by additive manufacturing (AM). Based on the scientific literature, the aim is to provide an updated map of trends and gaps in this relevant research field. Several technologies and investigation methods are examined, thus giving an overview and analysis of the growing body of research.

Permutations of keywords, which concern materials, technologies and the accuracy of thermoplastic polymeric parts fabricated by AM, are used for a systematic search in peer-review databases. The selected articles are screened and ranked to identify those that are more relevant. A bibliometric analysis is performed based on investigated materials and applied technologies of published papers. Finally, each paper is categorised and discussed by considering the implemented research methods.

The interest in the accuracy of additively manufactured thermoplastics is increasing. The principal sources of inaccuracies are those shrinkages occurring during part solidification. The analysis of the research methods shows a predominance of empirical approaches. Due to the experimental context, those achievements have consequently limited applicability. Analytical and numerical models, which generally require huge computational costs when applied to complex products, are also numerous and are investigated in detail. Several articles deal with artificial intelligence tools and are gaining more and more attention.

The cross-technology survey on the accuracy issue highlights the common critical aspects of thermoplastics transformed by AM. An updated map of the recent research literature is achieved. The analysis shows the advantages and limitations of different research methods in this field, providing an overview of research trends and gaps.

The purpose of this paper is to formulate an algorithm for a novel damage‐coupled material law for crystalline polyethylene at finite inelastic strains followed by investigation of the influence of the aggregate representation and material parameters on the material response.

The constitutive equations are developed within the framework of continuum damage mechanics to describe crystal fragmentation caused by atomic debonding of the crystallographic planes. The material is assumed initially isotropic and homogeneous and is represented as an aggregate of randomly oriented crystals with an orthorhombic lattice. For the velocity gradient, an additive decomposition into symmetric and skew‐symmetric components is applied, where the skew‐symmetric part (spin) is decoupled from the lattice shear by means of a damage variable. Structural features such as lattice parameters and orientations, slip systems, and kinematic constraints are incorpo‐rated.

The proposed model is implemented to predict stress‐strain behaviour under uniaxial tension and damage accumulation and texture development at the different stages of deformation. In the numerical examples, the effects of the aggregate size, crystal orientations, and material parameters on the model estimates are analyzed.

The model used herein is a first attempt to analyze the influence of crystal fragmentation caused by the debonding of the crystallographic planes on the predicted mechanical behaviour and texture development of polyethylene prior to failure.