Accelerated stress test for prediction of degraded resin material strength by hydrolysis

Abstract

A large quantity of engineering plastics are used in the industrial products. It is necessary to predict the life cycle of product made from them because of its shorter life cycle and lower strength than some of ceramics or metals. The test pieces of polybutylene terephthalate and polycarbonate, these are hydrolyzed engineering plastics, were submitted to accelerated stress test by some conditions of higher temperature and humidity. The time required for decrease of strength was related to water vapor pressure. It was possible to predict the time required for decrease of strength in market environment. Evaluation time for accelerated test will be shortened even better.