Rejuvenation and physical ageing of a polycarbonate film subjected to finite tensile strains

Differential storage and loss tensile moduli, E′ and E″, were determined intermittently at 10 Hz on specimens of an annealed polycarbonate film during stress relaxation at static tensile strains from 1.2 to 6.25% at 50°C. It was found that E′ and 1 E″ decrease when a static strain is applied but thereafter they increase progressively with time. These changes, which increase with the applied strain until it becomes 4%, are attributed primarily to a rejuvenation of a specimen (an increase in segmental mobility) followed by physical ageing (a progressive decrease in segmental mobility). Measurements at a static strain of 3% at six temperatures from 30°C to 130°C showed, among other things, that the rates of increase of E′ and decrease of E″ are sensibly independent of temperature up to 110°C. © 1985.