Thermal cycling of cold-pressed PTFE compacts: Reversible and irreversible behavior

Abstract Cold uniaxial pressed PTFE compacts were subjected to thermal cycles of increasing maximum temperature below melting temperature, and thermal expansion was followed in both the compaction and transverse directions. The measurements reveal that thermal expansion consists of two distinct contributions: i) an irreversible part that is controlled only by the maximum temperature experienced by the sample, and ii) a reversible, or thermo-elastic, part that is observed while cycling below the maximum temperature. Moreover, both of these thermal strains exhibit marked anisotropy, resulting from the cold oedometric compaction of the sample. A quantitative analysis of these eigenstrains is proposed, following a formal analogy with elasto-plasticity. Finally, it is shown that such behavior is specific to cold-pressed compacts as sintered samples exhibit isotropic and purely reversible thermo-elastic behavior.