Polyethylene is a chain of the material ethylene linked together to form a plastic compound. This material has been altered to be soft or hard, strong or weak as is needed for certain applications. As a result, the mechanical properties of polyethylene vary, depending on how it is made and used.
Hardness
Polyethylene, like many plastics, can be made in a variety of different hardnesses. Because of this a scale exists for determining how hard polyethylene can be. In the Rockwell R metric hardness system, polyethylene is 33.0 and 52.0. The English (or standard) version of that measurement is exactly the same, because the Rockwell measurement is the same in both systems. Additionally, polyethylene's Shore D hardness is between 55.0 and 76.0 on the hardness scale in both standard and metric measurements.
Tensile Impact Strength
Polyethylene's tensile impact strength (how well it stands up to an impact when pulled taut) is another of the mechanical properties that may vary depending on plastic construction. In Imperial measurement, polyethylene has a tensile impact strength of between 16.2 and 166 foot lbs. per square inch. In metric measurements the tensile impact strength of polyethylene is between 34.0 and 349 kilojoules per square meter of surface area.
Ultimate Tensile Strength
The ultimate tensile strength of polyethylene is the absolute strongest it can be made. Once again, since types of polyethylene materials differ, a range of ultimate tensile strengths can be achieved. The Imperial measurement of ultimate tensile strength is between 1,450 and 6,240 lbs. per square inch. The metric measurement of ultimate tensile strength is between 10.0 and 43.0 Mega Pascals. While conversions between these measurements may not be exact, measured separately these are the numbers you get, according to matweb.com.
Tags: impact strength, strength between, tensile impact strength, ultimate tensile, Imperial measurement, inch metric
