Impact strength of polymers. 3: The effect of annealing on cold worked polycarbonates

Cold working (rolling) of polycarbonates introduces residual stresses and molecular orientation both of which can improve, the notched Izod impact value. Annealing relieves both residual stresses and orientation. Annealing for various time periods established the critical level of residual stress necessary for the ductile failure mode of polycarbonate in the Izod impact test. The relaxation of both residual stress and molecular orientation was measured as a function of annealing temperature, for annealing times of 2 hs, and the relative changes have thus been determined. It is shown that residual stresses cannot be entirely removed without significantly influencing orientation for 2 h annealing times.