Page 614 - Handbook of Thermal Analysis of Construction Materials

582 Chapter 14 - Sealants and Adhesives

Figure 1. Loading assembly for tensile tests conducted at low temperatures.

The dashed line (c) in Fig. 2 corresponds to a typical stress (force)
versus strain (displacement) curve for a material which obeys Hooke’s Law
(elastic) and curve (b) represents a viscoelastic behavior. It can be observed
from the figure that the curve from the thermoplastic material is almost
linear for a force (stress) below 300 N. In the linear region of the curve, the
material behaves like an elastic material and obeys Hooke’s Law. The curve
in Fig. 2 can be represented by the following equation: [6]

Eq. (3) σ = Eε

where σ is the stress, ε is strain, and E is the slope of the curve (resistance
to tensile forces). E is also called Young’s modulus of the material. It can
be seen from Eq. 3 that the higher the E value, the higher resistance of the
material to tensile forces.