TITLE:
Study on Modification of Polymer Properties by the Cold Drawing Process
AUTHORS:
Wing-Fu Lai
KEYWORDS:
Cold Drawing, Mechanical Deformation, Polymers, Strain Rate
JOURNAL NAME:
Soft,
Vol.4 No.1,
January
13,
2015
ABSTRACT: Polymers have a wide diversity of applications, ranging from therapeutics delivery to tissue engineering. While advances in polymer chemistry have facilitated synthesis and development of new polymers, increasing efforts have also been directed to engineer properties of existing polymers. One of the common approaches to modify polymer properties is cold drawing, which can align polymer chains and orient the chains in a crystalline manner. Regarding the industrial significance of cold drawing in polymer engineering, this study used semi-crystalline high density polyethylene (HDPE) as a model to examine the effect of cold drawing on the anisotropic mechanical properties of polymers. During cold drawing, the yield strength of the polymer was shown to be in a positive relationship with the strain rate, and the hardness of the cold-drawn region was demonstrated to be significantly enhanced. Our results confirmed the feasibility of engineering the properties of polymers by applying tension for plastic deformation, and highlighted the importance of precise control of the strain rate in the treatment.