# Mechanical Performance of Polymer Materials for Low-Temperature Applications
###### Abstract
Although the essential mechanical characteristics have been identified accurately, the available information is limited to the mechanical characteristics at ambient and above-ambient temperatures. [PERSON] and [PERSON] studied the tensile behavior of HDPE, including its temperature and strain-rate effects. To investigate the temperature effect, temperatures of \(-40\), \(23\), \(53\), and \(82\)\({}^{\circ}\)C were selected. By increasing the temperatures from \(-40\)\({}^{\circ}\)C to \(82\)\({}^{\circ}\)C, the elastic modulus, yield strength, and tensile strength decreased significantly, whereas the elastic modulus and ultimate tensile strength increased linearly [15]. The influence of stress triaxiality, strain rate, and temperature on the mechanical response and morphology of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) was reported by [PERSON] et al. Between \(-20\)\({}^{\circ}\)C and \(100\)\({}^{\circ}\)C, the thermoviscoelastic response of the material was investigated at a quasistatic strain rate of 0.005 s\({}^{-1}\). In addition, the influence of strain rates (0.005, 0.1, and \(1.0\) s\({}^{-1}\)) at room temperature was investigated. The material exhibited a temperature- and strain-rate-dependent behavior in which the stress level increased with the increasing strain rate and decreasing temperature [16]. [PERSON] et al. examined the uniaxial compressive test on three distinct amorphous commercial polymers: PC, PMMA, and polyamide-imide (PAI). Experiments were conducted at temperatures ranging from \(-40\)\({}^{\circ}\)C to \(180\)\({}^{\circ}\)C and strain rates of 0.0001 s\({}^{-1}\) up to 5000 s\({}^{-1}\). The yield strength was not significantly affected by the quasistatic strain rate condition, but it was significantly affected by the high-strain-rate condition [17]. [PERSON] and [PERSON] investigated the tensile material properties of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) at strain rates in the range \(2\times 10^{-4}\)-\(0.1\) s\({}^{-1}\) and temperatures in the range \(-50\)-\(150\)\({}^{\circ}\)C. Test resultsat \(-50\)\({}^{\circ}\)C showed a significant decrease--approximately threefold--in the failure strain compared to the results in ambient temperature (25 \({}^{\circ}\)C) [18]. In the aforementioned studies, the mechanical performance and properties of polymer materials in a variety of low-temperature environments were reported. However, most previous research was limited to temperatures up to \(-50\)\({}^{\circ}\)C. Even though the mechanical behavior of polymers is sensitive to varying loads and temperatures, studies on the material properties of polymers under low-temperature conditions are insufficient for industrial applications. [PERSON] and [PERSON] investigated the compressive material properties of PTFE. In this paper, the compression test was conducted at strain rates in the range \(10^{-4}\)-\(1\) s\({}^{-1}\) and temperatures in the range \(-198\)\({}^{\circ}\)C to \(200\)\({}^{\circ}\)C. The tests were performed by immersing the samples in liquid nitrogen throughout the test. The samples tested at \(-198\)\({}^{\circ}\)C all shattered at approximately 35% strain [19]. Although the PTFE polymer material was impregnated with liquid nitrogen (\(-198\)\({}^{\circ}\)C) and the compressive test result was reported, it is difficult to obtain a quantitative database of the polymer materials for ABS, PE, and PVDF in low-temperature environments. In this study, strain-rate-dependent mechanical tests were conducted at low temperatures to determine the effect of temperature on the strength, elastic modulus, fracture strain, and toughness of three different polymer materials used in the ship and offshore industries. Based on their industrial viability, the following polymer candidates were chosen: PE, ABS, and PVDF. Finally, we quantitatively summarized the temperature (25 \({}^{\circ}\)C, 0 \({}^{\circ}\)C, \(-50\)\({}^{\circ}\)C, and \(-100\)\({}^{\circ}\)C) and strain-rate (\(10^{-4}\), \(10^{-3}\), and \(10^{-2}\) s\({}^{-1}\))-dependent properties.