Influence of the temperature and strain rate on the tensile behavior of post-consumer recycled high-density polyethylene

The tensile behavior of post-consumer recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was studied. The experiments were conducted under a wide range of temperatures (from 25 °C to 100 °C) and strain rates (7.25 × 10−5 s−1 up to 7.25 × 10−3 s−1). Temperature and strain rate greatly influence the mechanical response of the recycled HDPE. In particular, the stiffness and the ultimate tensile strength are found to increase with decreasing temperature and with increasing strain rate. Also, a one-dimensional viscoelastic phenomenological model able to yield a physically realistic description of temperature sensitivity and damage observed in tensile tests that can be used in engineering problems is proposed. Just three tests performed at different constant temperatures are needed to identify the material parameters that appear in the model. The experimental results are presented and compared to model estimations of damage progression and show good agreement.