Experimental investigation on yield behavior of PMMA under combined shear–compression loading

The work experimentally studies the yielding behavior of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) at three different loading rates through a developed combined shear–compression test technique which contains a universal materials testing machine, mental blocks with double beveled ends (combined shear–compression loading setup) and a column sleeve made of Teflon. The results show that the failure loci agree well with theoretical predictions involving the strain rate dependence, which indicates the validity of this test method. Additionally, the experimental data enrich the previous experimental work about polymer yielding surface in the principle stress space.