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In materials science, stress relaxation is the observed decrease in stress in response to strain generated in the structure. This is primarily due to keeping the structure in a strained condition for some finite interval of time hence causing some amount of plastic strain. This should not be confused with
creep Creep, Creeps or CREEP may refer to: People * Creep, a creepy person Politics * Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), mockingly abbreviated as CREEP, an fundraising organization for Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign Art ...
, which is a constant state of stress with an increasing amount of strain. Since relaxation relieves the state of stress, it has the effect of also relieving the equipment reactions. Thus, relaxation has the same effect as cold springing, except it occurs over a longer period of time. The amount of relaxation which takes place is a function of time, temperature and stress level, thus the actual effect it has on the system is not precisely known, but can be bounded. Stress relaxation describes how polymers relieve stress under constant strain. Because they are viscoelastic, polymers behave in a
nonlinear In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathematicians, and many other ...
, non-Hookean fashion.Meyers and Chawla. "Mechanical Behavior of Materials" (1999) This nonlinearity is described by both stress relaxation and a phenomenon known as
creep Creep, Creeps or CREEP may refer to: People * Creep, a creepy person Politics * Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), mockingly abbreviated as CREEP, an fundraising organization for Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign Art ...
, which describes how polymers strain under constant stress. Experimentally, stress relaxation is determined by step strain experiments, i.e. by applying a sudden one-time strain and measuring the build-up and subsequent relaxation of stress in the material (see figure), in either extensional or shear
rheology Rheology (; ) is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in a fluid (liquid or gas) state, but also as "soft solids" or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than deforming elastically in response to an appli ...
.
Viscoelastic In materials science and continuum mechanics, viscoelasticity is the property of materials that exhibit both viscous and elastic characteristics when undergoing deformation. Viscous materials, like water, resist shear flow and strain linear ...
materials have the properties of both viscous and elastic materials and can be modeled by combining elements that represent these characteristics. One viscoelastic model, called the Maxwell model predicts behavior akin to a spring (elastic element) being in series with a dashpot (viscous element), while the Voigt model places these elements in parallel. Although the Maxwell model is good at predicting stress relaxation, it is fairly poor at predicting creep. On the other hand, the Voigt model is good at predicting creep but rather poor at predicting stress relaxation (see
viscoelasticity In materials science and continuum mechanics, viscoelasticity is the property of materials that exhibit both viscous and elastic characteristics when undergoing deformation. Viscous materials, like water, resist shear flow and strain linear ...
). The
extracellular matrix In biology, the extracellular matrix (ECM), also called intercellular matrix, is a three-dimensional network consisting of extracellular macromolecules and minerals, such as collagen, enzymes, glycoproteins and hydroxyapatite that provide struc ...
and most tissues are stress relaxing, and the kinetics of stress relaxation have been recognized as an important mechanical cue that affects the migration,
proliferation Proliferation may refer to: Weapons *Nuclear proliferation, the spread of nuclear weapons, material, and technology *Chemical weapon proliferation, the spread of chemical weapons, material, and technology * Small arms proliferation, the spread of ...
, and differentiation of embedded cells. Stress relaxation calculations can differ for different materials: To generalize, Obukhov uses power dependencies:T.M. Junisbekov. "Stress Relaxation in Viscoelastic Materials" (2003) :\sigma(t)= \frac where \sigma_0 is the maximum stress at the time the loading was removed (''t*''), and ''n'' is a material parameter. Vegener et al. use a power series to describe stress relaxation in polyamides: \sigma(t)= \sum_^ To model stress relaxation in glass materials Dowvalter uses the following: \sigma(t) = \frac \cdot \log where \alpha is a material constant and ''b'' and t_n depend on processing conditions. The following non-material parameters all affect stress relaxation in polymers: * Magnitude of initial loading * Speed of loading * Temperature (isothermal vs non-isothermal conditions) * Loading medium * Friction and wear * Long-term storage


See also

*
Creep Creep, Creeps or CREEP may refer to: People * Creep, a creepy person Politics * Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), mockingly abbreviated as CREEP, an fundraising organization for Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign Art ...
*
Viscoelasticity In materials science and continuum mechanics, viscoelasticity is the property of materials that exhibit both viscous and elastic characteristics when undergoing deformation. Viscous materials, like water, resist shear flow and strain linear ...
* Standard Linear Solid Model * Burgers material * Maxwell material * Kelvin–Voigt material


References

{{reflist Materials science