<p>A high-throughput characterization scheme to determine yielding and permanent strain accumulation in polymers is presented. Measurement of permanent strains in polymers is challenging because of the extended duration associated with viscoelastic recovery, especially when tests need to be repeated under different loading histories. The proposed testing method can dramatically reduce the experimental efforts for long-term testing of time-dependent materials by producing a multitude of data from a single experiment. This is achieved by imposing a known stress gradient and employing a full-field strain measurement technique to obtain a series of creep curves under varying stress levels simultaneously. The method is demonstrated on low density polyethylene thin films used in superpressure balloons. Uniaxial creep-recovery tests are performed on polyethylene in two different material directions. Residual strains are measured after viscoelastic recovery to determine yielding and the subsequent evolution of permanent strain.</p>