Study Environmental Stress Cracking Behaviour Of Plastics to Prevent Early Failure

Study Environmental Stress Cracking Behaviour Of Plastics to Prevent Early Failure

The Plastic Industry has grown so rapidly that now it is hard to imagine an industry that does not uses any plastic products or parts. The manufacturers have understood the importance of plastic products as they are low cost, low maintenance, and easily available. The major industries that use plastic include pipe industries, oil industries, automotive industries and so forth. As the plastic products are used for such critical application with such high amounts of stress, it is important to make sure that products are of best quality and strength. In that way, it is easier to ensure that the products will give their best performance and can perform in high stress conditions without having premature failure.

One of the most prevailing reasons for failure of plastic products is the environmental stress cracking, which is cause because of environmental factors such as dust, moisture and so forth. The manufacturers need to test their products to ensure that the plastic materials is able to withstand the extreme environmental conditions and are capable of delivering their best performance.

Environmental stress cracking (ESC) occurs in plastic or polymer components when a polymer component is exposed to an aggressive environmental condition that consists of elements such as chemical fumes, and other agents while under tensile stress. This can cause the materials to degrade and deteriorate and cause its early failure.

The manufacturers can sue the environmental stress cracking resistance testing to study the behaviour of materials under highly stressful conditions. The instrument that is used for this testing is the Environmental Stress Cracking Chamber or ESCR chamber. This instrument is capable of simulating the highly stressful environmental conditions that help the users in evaluating the resistance offered by the products when subject to such conditions. The easy to operate testing instrument gives the manufacturers an opportunity to ensure that the quality of products they are offering to their clients is of top notch and can survive the highly toxic and stressful environmental conditions.