DEFINITION OF TERMS RELATING TO THE NON-ULTIMATE MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF POLYMERS

The document gives definitions of terms related to the non-ultimate me chanical behaviour of polymeric materials, in particular bulk polymers and concentrated solutions and their elastic and viscoelastic propert ies. The terms which have been selected are those met in the conventio nal mechanical characterization of isotropic polymeric materials. They have additionally been limited to those which can be defined precisel y and with mathematical rigour. They are arranged in sections dealing with basic definitions of stress and strain, deformations used experim entally, stresses observed experimentally, quantities relating stress and deformation, linear viscoelastic behaviour, and oscillatory deform ations and stresses used experimentally for solids. An index, an alpha betical list of terms and a glossary of symbols are included for ease of reference.