Indian Journal of Fibre & Textile Research

Vol. 22, December 1997, pp. 236-245

Modification and long-range prediction of the

creep behaviour of polypropylenea
V B Gupta
Department of Textile Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi 110 0 16, India

Various approaches for the enhancement of creep resistance of polypropylene products prepared
from fibres, filaments, tapes and films for use as technical textiles are reviewed. These include the right
choice of the starting material; appropriate processing parameters; crosslinking; copolymerization; use
of additives ; and use of polymer mixtures. Following this, a model evolved for the long-range prediction
of creep has been applied to the creep of oriented yam prepared from a polypropylene blend containing
5 wt.% of polystyrene.

Keywords :Creep, Creep resistance, Polypropylene

1 Introduction polypropylene must be overcome to make it a strong

The growth of polypropylene as a technical
textile has been quite noteworthy and presently it
commands a large share of the market, primarily
because of its low cost and inert nature l . Its low
density, hydrophobicity, excellent resistance to
chemicals and biological organisms, and wide range
of physical properties make it particularly attractive
for a fast growing geosynthetics market of which it
has the largest share2 • However, the glass transition
temperature of polypropylene is below room
temperature (approximately-lO°C), as a result of
which it has a tendency to creep at and above room
temperature at rather low stresses3•4 , a disadvantage
it shares with polyethylene. This shortcoming of
polypropylene acts as a negative factor in most
applications but is of particular concern in
applications like ropes, woven sacks, tarpaulins,
polygrass, upholstery fabrics, filter fabrics and
geotextiles for reinforcement. Taking the geotextile
application as an illustration, it is interesting to noteS
that compared to polyester and polyamide fabrics,
polypropylene fabrics show higher creep
deformation at times greater than one day after
loading and with increasing time, the rate of creep
shows a very large increase. Since the expected life
of a geosynthetic is 50-125 years, this deficiency of
aA condensed version of this paper was presented at the Inter-
national Seminar and Technomeet on Environmental Geo-
technology with Geosynthetics held at Vigyan Bhavan, New
Delhi. India, 31 July-3 August i 996.
,candidate for applications involving reinforcement
like road construction and earthwork6. Some
approaches for the enhancement of the creep
resistance of polypropylene are reviewed in this
article. Following this, a model evolved for the
long-range prediction of creep has been applied to
the creep of oriented yarn prepared from a
polypropylene blend containing 5 wt. % of poly-
styrene.
But before going into these aspects, it would be
appropriate to first briefly consider the creep
behaviour of a typical polymeric product and its
analysis and then comment briefly on the possible
molecular origins of creep and recovery from creep.
2 Creep Behaviour of a Polymeric Product and
its Molecular Origin
Creep is defmed as the time-dependent change in
strain following a step change in stress 7• The tools
used for analysing creep data have evolved through
pioneering efforts of metallurgists. It is noteworthy
that while metals show creep at high temperatures as
they begin to deform plastically even at stresses less
than their yield stress, polymeric materials show
significant creep at room temperature or even lower
temperatures. The long chain structure of polymer is
mainly responsible for this behaviour. As pointed
out by Schwarzl8, the long chains allow a variety of
movements to the macromolecules: elastic changes
of bond angles and bond distances; changes in
 GUPTA : CREEP BEHAVIOUR OF POLYPROPYLENE 237

conformations of side groups and smaller parts of
the chain; changes in the shape of the molecule's
countour by internal rotations around the bond
angles of its main chain; and finally, changes in the
positions of neighbouring macromolecules relative
to each other. Commenting on the resultant
deformations, Schwarzl further states that rearran-
gements) on a local scale, involving small parts
of the molecule occur relatively fast and yield only a
small contribution to the ' deformability of the
material under stress. The larg§:r ' ili~ 'part of the
molecule involved in a molecular, ~m\)vement, the
more sluggish the movement and the larger its
contribution to the deformation. These molecular
movements occur over a huge scale of characteristic
times covering many orders of magnitude. Thus, the
increase in strain with time on the application of a
stress to a polymeric sample is a manifestation of its
visco-elasticity and is related to the enormous
change in consistency (compliance) connected with
these movements. The molecules in the amorphous
regions of semi-crystalline polymers are believed to
be in a state of vigorous motion above glass
transition temperature (TJ and rather limited motion
in the glass-like state. On being subjected to a
tensile load, the molecules in the amorphous phase
are extended, perhaps by disentanglement of the
structural elements and straightening of chain
segments through rotation around single bonds. As a
result, the system moves to a low entropy state
or plastic, leading eventually to sample failure, and
(c) tertiary creep in which the strain rate increases
with time (Fig. la, bottom), leading to failure. In a
single creep experiment, a sample may show one or
more of the above features (generally in a combined
form) depending on the polymer material, stress
applied, temperature and time.
The use of Sherby-Dorn plots lO (Fig. lb), in
which the logarithm of strain rate is plotted against
the total strain, is a useful way of establishing a
steady state rate of creep and can thus assist in the
avoidance of long-term instability provided the
creep data is available over a long period for a range
of tensile loads. In addition, the maximum load that
may be sustained for any given time by the polymer
without approaching creep rupture is simply
estimated by multiplying the performance limit
strain (as obtained from the Sherby-Dorn plot) by
the isochronous stiffness at the given time. The
isochronous stiffness is estimated from creep
isochronals, which are plots of stress vs. creep strain
at selected times based on isothermal creep data
obtained at various stresses. The isochronals are also
very useful in distinguishing between linear and
non-linear viscoelastic behaviour and assist in
identifying the limits of linearity and the nature of
non-linearity of the viscoelastic responses. In
Prim ory creep 0 b

wlrich would like to revert back to its original state

~
to maximise entropy. As pointed out by McCrum et
aC, this generates a back stress which, on removal
of the load, results in recovery from creep. The 0'
0l-----~_----j
recovery is also aided by secondary valence bonds, S econdor y creep
entanglements, crosslinks (if any) and crystallites.

... ~
The permanent deformation or secondary creep z
...
cr
occurs mainly due to irreversible flow of polymer t-
V) z
chains. Q.
«
0:
t-
V) r -- ------4
TNliory cr~ep

...cr..,
Q.

3 The Nature of Creep in Polymers and its

w
Representation
The creep behaviour of polymer-based products
may be considered under three sub-headings: (a)
primary creep in which the rate of creep (or strain
rate) decreases with increasing time (Fig. la, top) TIME flog scolt) CREEP STRAIN, %

and the extension is fully recoverable with time, (b)

Fig. I-{a) Creep curves to illustrate primary creep (top),
secondary creep in which the strain rate is constant secondary creep (middle) and tertiary creep (bottom), and
(Fig. la, middle) and the extension is irrecoverable (b) The corresponding Sherby-Dom plots
238 INDIAN 1. FIBRE TEXT. RES ., DECEMBER 1997

addition to Sherby-Dorn plots and creep isochronals, polymer for applications which demand high
curve fitting approaches have also been widely used, mechanical performance. Polypropylene is produced
e.g. the empirical equation of Findley and in a range of molecular weights (which are
O'Connor11 has been applied l2 to the creep of characterised by melt flow index or MFI) and
polypropylene and glass fibre-reinforced poly- molecular weight distributions (which are
propylene, and the multiple integral representation characterised by polydispersity). Developments in
suggested by Grossl 3 and Kolskyl4 has been applied catalysts and polymerization methods have made it
to represent the creep behaviour of oriented possible to offer products with a comparable MFI
polypropylene fibres by Ward and Onat l5. The but with a narrow molecular weight distribution
single integral representation of Bernstein et at. 16 range, the so-called controlled rheology (CR) types.
has also been applied to the creep of polymers. The older resins had rather broad molecular weight
distributions with polydispersity of 10-40 or more
4 Enhancement of Creep Resistance while the newer CR resins with polydispersity of
As far as the enhancement of creep resistance is 3-4 are especially suited for high-speed spinning.
concerned, researchers have worked more The MFIs for textile applications are in the 15-
extensively on polyethylene than polypropylene. 25 giiO min range, while for the technical sector,
Ward 17 has pointed out that the creep and recovery polymers with higher molecular weight in the MFI
behaviours of both ultra-high modulus polyethylene range of 3-5 gllO min are used. However, for melt-
and polypropylene are very similar. The three blown structures, while the polypropylene in the
principal ways in which creep resistance of ultra- MFI range of 12-35 gllO min was considered the
high modulus polyethylene fibres has been right material, the current practice is to use polymers
enhanced l8 are by (i) increasing molecular weight, of low molecular weight with MFI in the range of
(ii) crosslinking, and (iii) copolymerization. It has 450-1500 gllO min; the resins with MFI of
been pointed oue 9 that permanent deformation in 1500 gllO min have been especially developed for
tension (creep) can be regarded in polypropylene this purpose.
(and indeed in oriented polymers in general) as an Finally, it is worth noting 20 that polypropylene
extension of the drawing process; it diminishes with with MFI of 5.0 gllO min and polydispersity 9.0 has
increasing draw ratio and should therefore approach a Mw of 302,000, while that with MFI of 25 .0 gil 0
a minimum for a given polymer where all the
min and polydispersity of 4.6 has M w of 179,000.
molecules are fully extended. Considering all these
factors , the various approaches to the enhancement
4.2 Appropriate Processing Parameters
of creep resistance of polypropylene will be
In a number of applications of technical textiles,
considered under the following six headings: the
high stiffness and high tenacity of the fibre along
right choice 'of the starting material; appropriate
with high creep resistance are a prerequisite. This
processing parameters; crosslinking; copolymeri-
aspect has been discussed in relation to
zation; use of additives; and use of polymer
geosynthetics by Jones 21 . These properties require a
mixtures.
high orientation of the molecules in the fibre. The
process parameters of interest from the viewpoint of
4.1 The Right Choice of Starting Material enhancement of mechanical properties of
The right choice of the starting polymer, polypropylene are those related to melt spinning,
particularly its molecular weight and molecular drawing, and post-drawing treatment.
weight distribution, represents the first important During melt spinning, the spinlihe stress plays an
step towards enhancement of creep resistance as important role in that higher the stress at the
these characteristics are important not only from the freezeline, the higher the orientation in the fibre.
processing point of view but also in determining the The increase in the rate of stress build-up along the
properties of the product. Highly stereo-regular spin line is caused by an increase in wind-up speed,
polypropylene (high isotactic content) with high decrease in extrusion temperature or extrusion rate
molecular weight and narrow molecular weight and by an increase in resin molecular weight, which
distribution is considered to be the most appropriate leads to higher melt viscosity. The stress level in the
 GUPTA : CREEP BEHAVIOUR OF POLYPROPYLENE 239

melt ranges 22 from 0.3 x 106 dynes/cm2 to 170x 106 quenching of melt-extruded fibre and subsequent
dynes/cm 2. drawing to high draw ratios, a number of other
Polypropylene products with high molecular methods have been tried to produce high-modulus,
orientation show less creep. Polypropylene yarns high-strength polypropylene fibres which will be
which compare very well with commercially expected to have high resistance to creep. These
available polyester and polyamide high tech yarns techniques include (i) hydrostatic extrusion, and (ii)
can be produced by a proper choice of polymer and spinning the fibre in the form of a gel and
processing conditions D . It is well known that solid subsequent hot-drawing 29 . By the latter technique,
state drawing is much more effective in inducing ultra-high modulus polypropylene films with
orientation than melt drawing during the spinning Young ' s modulus of36 GPa (454 g/den) and tensile
process. It is reported 24 .25 that polypropylene fibres strength of 1.03 GPa (13 g/den) were prepared from
spun with low spin orientation are capable of polymer of moler:ular weight of 3.4 million from
attaining a higher degree of total orientation on solid which a gel was made and cast into a film and then
state drawing than those spun with higher spin drawn at an elevated temperature to a very high
orientation. Similarly, rapidly quenched poly- draw rati0 30 .
propylene fibres allow much higher total orientation
on cold-drawing than the slowly-cooled fibres. 4.3 Crosslin king
Sheehan and Cole26 prepared monofilaments from A continuous increase in density (and
polypropylene by extruding them into cold water. crystallinity) was observed in polyethylene with
This rapid quenching gave them a smectic structure radiation dose up to 75 MRad of rirradiation31 while
instead of the usual monoclinic crystal form. When in polypropylene the density decreased at first up to
these fibres were drawn slowly in the oven at 130- a dose of 25 MRad before rising again. Many
32
135°C, very strong filaments with tenacity of studies, which have been reviewed , have reported a
13 .1 g/den , elongation of 18% and modulus of decrease in crystallinity and melting point following
11 0 g/d~n were obtained. It has recently been irradiation and a number of such references are cited
shown 27•28 that as-spun fibres produced from a low in the review. Irradiation results in complex
molecular weight controlled-rheology grade morphological changes as, in addition to introducing
polymer (MF!, 35 gil 0 min) extruded at 280°C at a cross links, it severs tie molecules in the amorphous
winding speed of 200 mlmin give paracrystalline regions, thus reducing the molecular weight.
fibres of low orientation which, on being subjected It has been shown 33 that it is possible to obtain
to a two-stage drawing process at 60 and 140°C dramatic enhancement in creep resistance of high'
respectively, are transformed into high oriented density polyethylene fibres either by electron
monoclinic fibres with tenacity of 85 cN/tex irradiation in vacuum to a dose of 50 MRad or by
(9.6 g/den). Alternatively, such a yarn can be irradiation in acetylene to a smaller dose of 20
produced on spin-draw machine with the spinning MRad, both of which give a substantial degree of
speed being retained at 200 mlmin and the drawing crosslinking. As a result, the strain rate effects are
rollers running at 800 mlmin. The industrial yarn much reduced and a much more linear stress-strain
will be expected to have high creep resistance; curve is seen, i.e. the creep behaviour is quenched so
however, its creep behaviour has not been reported. that the material passes through a ductile-brittle
The drawn fibres ¥e generally subjected to heat- transition.
setting or annealing treatment so that the internal Some results on the enhancement of the creep
stresses are relieved. Such a treatment is generally resistance of irradiated polypropylene tapes have
given to the fibre in the constrained state to prevent been reported 34 . High energy irradiation induces
large-scale disorientation of the molecules in the both chain scission and crosslinking in isotactic
amorphous regions of the sample. Annealing can polypropylene and, according to ·the authors,
lead to an improvement in mechanical properties invariably results in deterioration of mechanical
and certainly stabilizes the structure and dimensions properties, especially in drawn polypropylane. They
of the fibre for use at elevated temperatures. found that crosslinking can be enhanced by carrying
Besides the method described above, viz. rapid out the gal}11l1a irradiation in the presence of
240 INDIAN 1. FIBRE TEXT RES. , DECEMBER 1997

acetylene and reported enhancement of creep authors suggest that during grafting, PMMA chains
resistance at high temperatures by applying this get attached to the polypropylene chains in the .
technique to drawn tapes (draw ratio 7:1, drawn amorphous regions and the PMMA has a reinforcing
over hot rolls at 90°C) of polypropylene. Drawing effect as its bulk reduces the mobility of the
results in a high degree of orientation of crystalline amorphous regions. It may, however, be stated that
regions and lamellar unfolding occurs to a point most of the available polypropylene copolymers
where the polymer network has reached its natural have been designed to enhance the toughness of
extension. Further extension, say during creep, will polypropylene and thus have a softening rather than
be manifested initially In the interlamellar a rigidifYing effect on the polymer.
amorphous regions and later, if yielding occurs, by
lamellar unfolding which will meet increasing 4.5 Use of Additives
resistance from the restraining effect of the network A wide variety of additives is used with
in the form of strain hardening. Irradiation affects polypropylene to give improved 3tability to heat,
the interlamellar amorphous regions, lamellar light and washing, flame resistance, printability and
surface regions and the network. dyeability. However, in the context of the subject
The observed delayed yielding in the creep matter of this article, only those additives which
experiments at 30°C and the completely suppressed lead to an enhancement of creep resistance will be
yield at 100°C in the irradiated samples strongly considered.
indicate preferential crosslinking in the lamellar A three-component modifY'ing additive has been
surface regions. reported to increase the tensile strength of isotactic
polypropylene tapes significantly38 and will be
4.4 Copolymerization briefly described. Polypropylene of MFI 3.6 gllO
As stated earlier, copolymerization can enhance min and with 97% isotacticity was modified with
the creep resistance of high density polyethylene the following three-component modifYing additive:
fibres . The creep behaviour of ethylene hexene-I CaC03, nucleus generator; stearic acid, plasticiser;
copolymer polyethylene having approximately 1.5 and Ti0 2 , polymer melt viscosity regulator. The
butyl side branches per 1000 carbon atoms has been total additive content was 2 wt %. The tapes
studied 35 and like gamma-irradiated polyethylene of produced from this compound were given a 7-fold
Mw 101 , 450, the copolymer of Mw 155,000 also stretch and a significant enhancement of tensile
strength was observed. It was because large defects
behaves like high molecular weight polyethylene of
were not present in the modified polypropylene
Mw 312,000 as far as the creep is concerned.
tapes and the authors suggest that the nuclei
Apparently, in the cross-linked and copolymer generated inhibit the development of microcrazes.
polyethylene samples of relatively low molecular It has also been reported that mineral fillers like
weights, a comparable molecular network to the calcium carbonate reduce the tendency to fibrillate
high molecular weight sample as a result of physical so that the tapes can be drawn to higher draw ratios
entanglements is created due to chemical cross links and then slie6 . These tapes have enhanced creep
in the ca;e of gamma-irradiated sample and due to resistance.
the branches in the copolymer sample . The surface modification of the filler particles
Unmodified homopolymer grades of poly- with coupling agents, which contain pendent groups
propylene in tape form are known to fibrillate easily capable of reacting both with the resin and the filler
at high draw ratios and this effectively reduces their surface, decreases the melt viscosity of CaC03 filled
tenacity and thus makes them creep sensitive. The polypropylene and also increases the tensile strength
use of propylene-ethylene copolymers reduces the of the melt-spun fibres . A significant improvement
tendency to fibrillate 36 . Such copolymers are made in spinnability is also observed39. These studies were
by IPCL, Vadodara, India, as block and random made on heavily filled polypropylene.
copolymers.
It has been shown 37 that the mechanical 4.6 Use of Polymer Mixtures .
'properties of polypropylene fibres are, in general, More recently the advantages of using polymer
improved by grafting of methacrylic acid. The mixtures have become so apparent that almost one
 GUPTA: CREEP BEHAVIOUR OF POLYPROPYLENE
third of polymer usage is in terms of blends of
polymers. They assist in various ways as the
following examples illustrate. .Polyethylene and
polypropylene are used extensively in sheath-core
configuration to take advantage of the lower melting
point of the former in thermally-bonded spunbonds;
the polypropylene core fibre retaining its fibrous
character and excellent physical properties. The use
of blends of polypropylene with polyethylene also
reduces the tendency of films or tapes to fibrillate,
thus allowing high tenacity tapes to be produced.
Another example relates to high molecular weight
polypropylene of MFI 1.04, which normally
requires high spinning temperature. When a low
molecular weight polypropylene of MFI 20 is added
to it, say to the extent of 25% or higher, the blend
could be processed at much lower temperatures to
give superior mechanical properties.
It has been shown that small quantities of
commercial polystyrene in polypropylene can
substantially reduce the shear viscosity of the melt
of the mixture 40•41 as the local interactive forces
acting across the interface boundary of the
incompatible blend system can result in ease of
slippage of the matrix phase along the interface. A
small amount of the polystyrene has also been found
to reduce the crystallinity of the fibre and thereby
increase its shrinkage4Z•43 and also improve its
texturizability and dyeability44. Since creep
resistance of polypropylene fibre increases with
increasing orientation, it was considered worthwhile
studying the drawability characteristics of
polypropylene-polystyrene blends with the objective
of producing a highly oriented fibre from the
blend45 • Fibres were produced from mixtures of fibre
grade polypropylene (MFI 20) with 5 wt. % of
commercial polystyrene by first spinning a multi-
filament yam at a wind-up speed of 750 mlmin. It
was observed that under identical conditions of
spinning, the spinline tension was lower in the case
of the polymer mixture compared to that for the
homopolymer. As a result, while the as-spun
polypropylene sample displayed a predominantly
monoclinic crystal form and high orientation and
crystallinity, the as-spun blended sample had a
predominantly pseudohexagonal smectic crystal
form and low orientation and crystallinity. As stated
earlier, this is an excellent precursor for a high
modulus, high strength fibre. The presence of
241
polystyrene in the spun sample was found to
substantially enhance the plastic deformation of the
spun samples, as is seen from the stress-strain
curves shown in Fig. 2. It is noteworthy that a
mechanical stress-induced phase transition from f3
(hexagonal) to a (monoclinic) modification in
polypropylene has been shown to result in a large
increase in the specific plastic work, which is
attributed to the high crystalline density of a-form
of isotactic polypropylene than the initial f3
modification along with the nature of the fJ-a
transformation 46 . 111 addition, the possibility of
slippage of the matrix across the polystyrene phase
would also contribute to improved drawability of the
blended spun samples allowing them to be drawn to
a draw ratio of 5.1 at room temperature, while the
as-spun homopolymer sample could only be drawn
up to a draw ratio of 4.4. This is most likely because
the polystyrene is present as near-spherical particles
of 0.5-1 f.1., as revealed by scanning electron
microscopy, apparently in the amorphous regions of
as-spun fibre and acts as plasticizer. In samples of
draw ratio of 4.4 and above, the polystyrene is
present in the oriented form and is trapped in the
amorphous regions of the fibre. The creep and
recovery curves for polypropylene yam of draw
ratio 4.4 and for blended yams of draw ratio 4.4 and
5.1 are shown in Fig. 3, and the corresponding
Sherby-Dorn plots are shown in Fig.4. The
beneficial effect of higher draw is obvious as far as
the creep and recovery are concerned.
The creep resistance of polypropylene can also be
enhanced by combining it with glass fibres in
2.0 . - - - - - - - - - -- -- -- - - - - - - ,
~
..,~ 1. 5 Polypropylene
co
Vl
~ 1.0
a:
....
Vl
...
...J
~
:0:
0. 5
o
z
Blended Polyp~1tnt
100 200 300 400 500 600
STRAIN , %
Fig. 2-Room temperature stress-strain curves for as-spun
samples
242 INDIAN J FIBRE TEXT. RES., DECEMBER 1997

various fonns and using different approaches but O'Connor I I , which have already been referred to
this is outside the scqpe of the present article and is, earlier, can be used for this purpose. Two other
therefore, not discussed further. approaches, viz. the time-temperature superposition
principle47 and the time-stress equivalence48.49 have
5 Long-Range Prediction of Creep also been used for the prediction of creep at long
In a number of applications involving creep of times. A combined time-temperature-stress super-
techTIical textiles, long-range prediction of creep can position principle was evolved for predicting the
give valuable design infonnation. The Sherby-Dorn long-range creep behaviour of polypropylene 50 • This
plots lO and the empirical equation of Findley and extends the time range of prediction to a significant
extent and is particularly useful for predicting the
4r-------------------~ creep behaviour of polymer-based products which
can have a life span of 100 years or more, e.g.
geotextiles. It will be shown that using this model,
3 the experimental creep data on a drawn fibre made
0~ / from polypropylene containing 5 wt. % polystyrene
/
2
/ for a period of 4 h at temperatures of 35, 45, 55 and
Z /
~
/
/ 60°C and at stresses of5.3, 10.5, 15.7 and 20.9 MPa
0:: ,-
I-
VI A
,- can be reduced to creep data covering a period of
,/
S .... over 125 years at a temperature of 35°C and a stress
C..... 0/' of 5.3 MPa. The theoretical background and the
model for long-tenn prediction of creep in textile
0
1 2 3 5 6 fibres have been dealt with in another pUblication 50 .
10° 10 10 10 10 10
The approach evolved may be understood with
TIME , s
reference to Fig. 5, where the creep curves A,B and
C have been obtained at (stress, temperature)
Fig. 3- Creep and creep recovery curves obtained for a stress
of 25.3 MPa at 55°C [(A) Polypropylene DR 4.4, (B) Blended combinations of (ai' T,), (a2, T,) and (a2, T2)
polypropylene DR 4.4, and (C) Blended polypropylene respectively. Curve C, obtained at temperature T2,
DR 5.1] can be reduced to a curve for temperature T, and
superposed on curve B using the time-temperature
10° superposition principle, with a shift factor log (aT)'
The creep curve B and the shifted creep curve Care

B A
,.... ",,
'1lit
10-2 ,
\
\
\
UJ \
l-
< e \
\
a:: 10'4 \

Z
,;
a::
\ \

"
I-
V'l
10-0 \
\
10- 8
0 4
Log (timll)
STRAIN, %
Fig. 5-Schematic illustration of the combined time-
Fig. 4--Sherby-Dom plots corresponding to samples of Fig. 3 temperature-stress superposition principle
 GUPTA : CREEP BEHAVIOUR OF POLYPROPY LENE 243

further reduced to a curve for stress a l to obtain an

extended creep curve. The total shift of curve C to
curve A is given by : 3r
~
0#
c~ 2 r · 0
a '" 0

~./
5.1 Experimental ~
...
Multifilament yarn was melt-spun on a Fourne
VI
1r
0

"" ....
~

Melt Spin Tester (SST 1207) using polypropylene /. .•-, ~ i

with melt flow index (MFI) of 23 , in which 5 wt % 0 ... , ........ "++

6
I
8
-
I
8
I

of commercial atactic polystyrene had been dry 10 2 10

4
10 10 1dO
mixed. It was wound at a speed of 750m/min and Tim~, s
subsequently drawn on a two-zone drawing machine
Fig. 6-- The master creep curve for fibre produced from a
at a take-up speed of 110m/min to a total draw ratio
blend of polypropylene with 5 wt% of atactic polystyrene at a
of 4.4. The drawn fibre showed a density of temperature of 35°C and strels of 5.3 Mpa [(e) 5.3 MPa,
0.902g1cm 3 and a birefringence of 0.036. The 35°C;(+) 10.5 MPa, 45 °C; (*) \5 .7 MPa, 55 °C; and
crystallinity, estimated from density usmg (a) 20.9 MPa, 60°C)
crystalline density of O.946g1cm3 and amorphous
density of 0.854g/cm\ was ,53 .8%. The load- 4~----- ----------------------------.

elongation tests were carried out at an extension rate

of 100% min-I on an Instron 4101. The initial
modulus of the yarn was found to be 40 .6 g/den
while its tenacity was 5.2g1den. The average
extension at break was found to be 23.5%.
A Stanton Redcroft Thermo-Mechanical
Analyser was suitably modified to carry out
isothermal creep experiments. It allowed
temperature control up to an accuracy of ±0.1 °C and
had a very rapid but gentle loading procedure and an
accurate device for measuring increase in length.
The samples were first conditioned by subjecting
them to repeated cycles of loading and unloading 51
until they gave reproducible results.
5.2 Results and Discussion
Using a combination of stress-time and time-
temperature superposition, as described earlier, the
creep data obtained at different stresses and
temperatures were reduced to a curve for
temperature of 35°C and stress of 5.3 MPa. It was
possible to achieve this by a simple horizontal shift
of the data on the logarithmic time axis, and the
master creep curve so obtained is shown in Fig. 6. It
is noteworthy that the predicted creep curve covers a
period of over 120 years, which is the expected
lifetime of some geotextiles used in reinforcement
applications and could thus be of interest to
designers of such products. It is interesting to note
that after 1 year, the rate of creep becomes quite
large. A comparison of the superposed creep data
3
...z
a:
l-
V!
~O~O'-------'O~2------~'O~'------~'O~6-------J,~
TIME, s
Fig. 7-Comparison of creep data for the three samples
obtained by superposing the experimental data by reducing it
to a stress of 25 .3 MPa and temperature of 35°C
for the polypropylene sample of draw ratio 4.4 and
for the blended samples of draw ratio 4.4 and 5.1
(Fig. 7) shows the superiority of the blended sample.
6 Conclusions
The creep resistance of polypropylene can be
enhanced by using a number of approaches outlined
in this contribution. It is observed that a product
made from high molecular weight polypropylene
with narrow distribution and with high molecular
orientation has high modulus and high tenacity;
244 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., DEC EMBER 1997
consequently, its defonnation under load is small
and the time-dependence of creep is much reduced
in comparison to a sample with lower orientation.
Such a sample is dimensionally more stable and
therefore of high durability. The other methods like
crosslinking, copolymerisation, use of additives and
use of polymer mixtures are still in the development
stage and considerable development work in these
areas is needed to exploit their potential to make
polypropylene more creep resistant. The creep data
over a narrow range of time, temperature and stress
can be transfonned to creep data for a fixed
temperature and stress but for a wide time range
through the use of time-temperature-stress super-
position principle.
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