Microstructure-based fatigue modeling of an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) copolymer

Abstract : In this article, we experimentally investigate the structure-property relationships of an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) copolymer for fatigue and use a microstructure-based multistage fatigue (MSF) model to predict material failure. The MSF model comprises three stages of fatigue damage (crack incubation, small crack growth, and long crack growth) that was originally used for metal alloys. This study shows for the first time that the MSF theory is general enough to apply to polymer systems like ABS. The experimental study included monotonic testing (compression and tension) and fully reversed uniaxial cyclic tests at two frequencies (1 Hz and 10 Hz) with a range of strain amplitudes of 0.006 to 0.04. Cyclical softening was observed in the ABS copolymer. Fractography studies of failed specimens revealed that particles were responsible for crack incubation. Although polymeric materials can be argued to be more complex in terms of failure modes and thermo-mechano-chemical sensitivity when compared with most metal alloys, results showed that the MSF model could be extended successfully to capture microstructural effects to polymeric materials.