We report experimental evidence that a polymer stretched at constant strain rate $\dot{\lambda }$ presents complex memory effects after $\dot{\lambda }$ is set to zero at a specific strain ${\lambda }_w$ for a duration $t_w$, ranging from $100\mathrm{s}$ to $2.2\times {10}^5\mathrm{s}$. When the strain rate is resumed, both the stress and the dielectric constant relax to the unperturbed state nonmonotonically. The relaxations depend on the observable, on ${\lambda }_w$ and on $t_w$. Relaxation master curves are obtained by scaling the time and the amplitudes by $ln\left(t_w\right)$. The dielectric evolution also captures the distribution of the relaxation times, so the results impose strong constraints on the relaxation models of polymers under stress and they can be useful for a better understanding of memory effects in other disorder materials.

• Received 26 November 2020
• Accepted 25 March 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.103.L040502