Strain rate and temperature effects on the non linear behaviour and the damage process induced by tensile loading within RTPMMA ''rubber toughened polymethylmethacrylate''

Rubber toughened polymers ''RTP'', when they are used in structural elements to ensure absorption energy gives better results than those of glassy polymers which generally behave in brittle manner. The aim of this work is to investigate the strain rate and temperature effects on the non lineaire behaviour of RTPMMA. Furthermore, we used a macroscopical approach to characterize the damage process induced by tensile loading on a special dumbell shape specimen. Compared to the results obtained by an other technique used by SCHIRRER [1], this method seems to be a promising one to the characterization of damage.