Thermoforming of a PMMA transparency near glass transition temperature

Abstract

In order to simulate the thermoforming of a transparency, constitutive equations are proposed for the nonlinear viscoelastic behaviour of poly(methyl methacrylate) near glass transition temperature, which include large deformations. In a first step, they are fitted on a set of uniaxial tensionrelaxation tests at various strain levels and strain rates. In a second step, their implementation in a finite element code is performed. Finally, the thermoforming of a transparency at a constant and uniform temperature is simulated and compared with experimental results.