ON THE TENSILE TESTING OF HIGH MODULUS POLYMERS AND THE COMPLIANCE CORRECTION

The application of a method to determine and correct for the influence of non-specimen extension in tensile testing is reviewed and demonstrated using two different thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers. In the tensile testing of high modulus polymer extrudate, where the amount of specimen extension is inferred from the crosshead travel, the error associated with system compliance can be significant and parameters such as modulus and elongation will be in error. The need to apply the correction depends on the magnitude of the product of the sample modulus and cross-sectional area, divided by the test gage length, relative to the system compliance value. Its application is not necessarily restricted to high modulus materials, and can be extended to samples of larger cross-sectional area and lower modulus. Guidance to assist in the choice of a suitable gage length to avoid compliance correction and a method to quantify the error contribution is presented.