Large strain stress relaxation and recovery behavior of ethylene-styrene interpolymers

The large strain, nonlinear stress relaxation and recovery behavior of amorphous ethylene-styrene interpolymers (ESIs) was studied at temperatures above the glass transition temperature (Tg). At longer times, the nonlinear stress relaxation curves could be superposed by vertical shifting. The damping function determined from these shift factors was well described by the Doi-Edwards tube model. The instantaneous recovery after stress relaxation was also investigated. For lower temperatures and shorter times, the data were described by Gent's two network model. At higher temperatures, this model was no longer applicable. A modified two network model using the damping function from stress relaxation was developed to successfully describe the instantaneous recovery.