Experimental Investigation of PC-Films Using Optical Measurements

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The alignment of polymer chains is a well known microstructural evolution effect due to straining of polymers. This has a drastic influence on the macroscopic properties of the initially isotropic material. In this work, cold forming is performed at room temperature on a tensile testing machine. Polycarbonate films are examined in two loading phases. In the first phase, the specimen is loaded to induce anisotropy, and in the second, it is re-loaded, while the material direction is varied. The investigations are supported by an optical measurement system to gain knowledge about the inhomogeneous material behavior in the initial loading phase and about the anisotropic homogeneous behavior during the re-loading phase. Two dimensional strain contours are obtained from the test data. Additionally, we propose a method for approximation of the macroscopic true stress and compare the results with a common approach based on volume consistency. In the future, the test data will set a basis for parameter identification of constitutive equations taking into account a combination of inhomogenous and homogenous material behavior, exhibiting strain induced anisotropy.</jats:p>