Thermo-mechanical response of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) large volumes exposed to time-dependent environmental conditions

Low thermal conductivity and elevated absorbance of large bulky volumes of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) exposed to moderately aggressive environmental conditions may cooperate to determine critical mechanical conditions, kindling unexpected high thermal stresses values which lead the material to failure. From the engineering point of view, this can be explained as the result of two concomitant phenomena which activate a cascade of events: very sharp thermal gradients engendered by transient thermal processes induced by cyclic environmental conditions, combined with significant bulk heat generation due to the high thermal inertia of massive PMMA volumes, in turn aggravating the steepness of the thermal gradients, may in fact ingenerate severe stress regimes, potentially undermining the structural stability of the material. Moving from these considerations, the present study is aimed to investigate possible rupture of PMMA blocks experiencing heating processes as a consequence of their exposure to outdoor cyclic environmental conditions. The problem is approached by means of both rigorous analytical arguments and the Finite Element based numerical methods, finally exploiting the theoretical outcomes to formulate a hypothesis which might explain the still unclear phenomenon of the sudden breaking of the PMMA structure, named Huge Wine Glass and designed by the world famous Japanese architect Toyo Ito, which occurred in Pescara (Italy) in 2009.