Two-process constitutive model for semicrystalline polymers across a wide range of strain rates

The presence of crystalline and amorphous phases in semicrystalline polymers presents interesting constitutive modelling challenges. In this study, a physically based, three-dimensional constitutive model has been developed for simulating a wide range of features observed in deformation and processing of semicrystalline polymers. The proposed model combines into one constitutive model such features as: multiple viscoelastic relaxation processes, very wide strain-rate range, temperature-dependence, adiabatic heating, structural rejuvenation; in addition to it being applied to a semicrystalline polymer. The constitutive mathematics is based on a one-process glass-rubber model for amorphous polymers. It adapts that model to semicrystalline polymers by extending it to two relaxation processes: one associated with the glass transition of the mobile amorphous phase; the other associated with relaxation of the crystalline fraction and its associated rigid amorphous phase. In particular, two dominant processes were identified: the α-process and the β-process. The model has been implemented numerically into a commercial finite element code through a user-defined material subroutine (UMAT). The model has been validated against compression test results carried out on polypropylene. Also, the model predicts very well the experimentally observed nonlinear rate-dependent response and post-yield de-ageing of polypropylene.