The effect of Dead Sea water on the mechanical properties of polycarbonate

The work presented in this paper is an attempt to investigate the effect of aging in Dead Sea water on the mechanical properties of polycarbonate under different temperatures and strain rates. The mechanical properties as Young's modulus, yield stress and yield strain have been studied as a function of aging time. Other physical parameters such as the activation energy and the activation volume are estimated from the analysis of the obtained data using the Eyring theory of yielding. It was found that the mechanical behavior of polycarbonate is effected by aging in Dead Sea water where the effect of aging decreases with test temperature and disappears at high temperature.