Viscoelasticity and the Small Punch Creep Recovery Test: Numerical analysis and experimental tests on the applicability for polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

Research on the Small Punch Test (SPT) has been mainly focused on metallic alloys, with limited investigations in polymeric materials. The miniature size of the SPT eases and motivates its use in biomedical applications, like the mechanical characterization of surgical implants made of different polymers. It is noted that the aim of these publications was focused on mechanical properties inherent to the tensile test (yield strength, ultimate...