Extrinsic plastic hardening of polymer thin films in flat punch indentation

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that repeated plastic indentation in confined geometries induces a significant strain hardening in polystyrene thin films, primarily due to residual stresses rather than structural changes.

Contribution

It reveals a confinement-induced strain hardening mechanism in polymer thin films caused by residual stresses from repeated plastic loading.

Findings

66% increase in yield stress after repeated loading

Residual stresses are the main cause of hardening, not structural changes

Finite element simulations support the residual stress hypothesis

Abstract

Confined geometries offer useful and experimentally amenable mechanical testing arrangements in which to study the molecular and micro-structural processes which govern plastic yield in stress environments dominated by hydrostatic pressure over shear. However, the changes to macroscopic stress strain behaviour that result from switching from an unconfined mode such as uniaxial compression to a confined one are often overlooked and display a surprising level of complexity, even for simple elastic plastic constitutive models. Here we report a confinement induced strain hardening effect in polystyrene thin films achieved through repeated plastic loading with a cylindrical flat punch whose diameter is many times the initial film thickness. This high aspect ratio combines with constraint provided by film material surrounding the contact to generate a state of confined uniaxial strain in the indented region, rendering the deformation one dimensional. By repeated loading into the plastic domain, we achieve a 66% increase in the confined yield stress, from 0.3 GPa to 0.5 GPa. Through finite element simulation and analytic modelling of the principal stresses and strains, we show that this effect arises not from intrinsic changes to the structure of the material, but rather residual stresses imparted during plastic loading. We contrast this effect with intrinsic changes to glassy thin films such as physical ageing and thermal cross-linking.