Mechanical Response of High Performance Polymers

Mechanical Response of High Performance Polymers: ABPBO, ABPBT, and ABPBI

CAGIN-T
Materials Theory and Modeling, 291, 321-324 (1993)
ABSTRACT
Light weight, high strength fibers and films produced from stiff chain polymers are good candidates for use as structural materials. Over the last decade, considerable success has been achieved in synthesizing high strength fibers and films. Due to their thermal and oxidative stability aromatic heterocyclic stiff chain polymers such as ABPBO, ABPBT and ABPBI are aespecially good candidates. We first describe the finite theory of elasticity as applied in atomistic simulations of anisotropic solids and then use this description to investigate the mechanical response of these crystalline polymers as a function of applied hydrostatic pressure and uniaxial tension and compression along the chain direction in molecular mechanics simulations. In addition to these finite stress experiments, I will also present the results of the first elastic stiffness matrix calculations performed on these high performance polymers.