Environmental stress cracking of high-density polyethylene under plane stress conditions

High-Density Polyethylene is prone to Environmental Stress Cracking if mechanically stressed in the presence of solutions containing surfactants. Even if this polymer is widely used to produce containers for industrial and household detergents, its Environmental Stress Cracking Resistance is generally evaluated under plane strain conditions irrespective of the actual stress state experienced during service life. In this work the Slow Crack Growth of thin specimens, under plane stress conditions, was studied in air and in the presence of an “active” environment. The J-integral approach was adopted to account for the extensive plastic deformations thereby occurring and the obtained results were compared to those describing the plane strain behaviour of the same polyethylene, reported in previous works. The effect of the production process was also assessed by comparing the behaviour of compression moulded and blow moulded specimens, the latter having a lower degree of crystallinity. Despite the difference in fracture resistance expected in air, the behaviour in presence of the active environment was very similar, suggesting that the production process has only negligible influence on the Environmental Stress Cracking resistance of the considered polyethylene.