Effect of biaxial stretching at temperatures and strain histories comparable to injection stretch blow moulding on tensile modulus for Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)

This study is particularly relevant to the injection stretch blow moulding (ISBM) process where PET material is typically biaxially stretched to form bottles for the water and carbonated soft drinks industry. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of biaxial stretching on the mechanical properties of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) using a custom built biaxial testing machine. An initially amorphous PET sample was prepared via injection moulding to form a square sample (76mm × 76mm) suitable for stretching on the machine. This sample was then subjected to a series of biaxial tests (simultaneous and sequential) within a temperature range between 85°C and 110°C, strain rates in the range of 1s^-1 to 32s^-1 and stretch ratios in the range of 1.5 to 3. Specimens were subsequently cut from the biaxial stretched sheets and used to measure the tensile modulus. Results showed that there is almost no effect found for strain rate and temperature on modulus development whilst stretch ratio and mode of deformation played the most important role on modulus development on PET under biaxial deformation.