Application of time-temperature-stress superposition on creep of wood-plastic composites

Time-temperature-stress superposition principle (TTSSP) was widely applied in studies of viscoelastic properties of materials. It involves shifting curves at various conditions to construct master curves. To extend the application of this principle, a temperature-stress hybrid shift factor and a modified Williams-Landel-Ferry (WLF) equation that incorporated variables of stress and temperature for the shift factor fitting were studied. A wood-plastic composite (WPC) was selected as the test subject to conduct a series of short-term creep tests. The results indicate that the WPC were rheologically simple materials and merely a horizontal shift was needed for the time-temperature superposition, whereas vertical shifting would be needed for time-stress superposition. The shift factor was independent of the stress for horizontal shifts in time-temperature superposition. In addition, the temperature- and stress-shift factors used to construct master curves were well fitted with the WLF equation. Furthermore, the parameters of the modified WLF equation were also successfully calibrated. The application of this method and equation can be extended to curve shifting that involves the effects of both temperature and stress simultaneously.