Issue 41, 2019

Synergistic toughening of polypropylene with ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene and elastomer-olefin block copolymers

Abstract

Blends of polypropylene (PP) and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) with elastomer-olefin block copolymers (OBC) were prepared using an ultrasonic twin-screw extruder, and the mechanical, thermal, and rheological properties of the blends were investigated. The interfacial interactions among PP, OBC, and UHMWPE showed that the PP/OBC/UHMWPE blends formed a core–shell structure with UHMWPE as the core and OBC as the shell. The crystallization temperature and the crystallinity of the blends were improved for the heterogeneous nucleation between PP- and OBC-covered UHMWPE particles. Moreover, the mechanical and thermal properties of PP/UHMWPE blends have also been greatly improved by adding OBC. Furthermore, it was evident that the OBC-covered HHMWPE particles became smaller under the application of ultrasonic irradiation, so the interfacial interactions between the particles and the PP matrix were enhanced and the impact strength of the blends was improved.

Graphical abstract: Synergistic toughening of polypropylene with ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene and elastomer-olefin block copolymers

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Feb 2019
Accepted
27 Jun 2019
First published
02 Aug 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2019,9, 23994-24002

Synergistic toughening of polypropylene with ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene and elastomer-olefin block copolymers

L. Qi, L. Wu, R. He, H. Cheng, B. Liu and X. He, RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 23994 DOI: 10.1039/C9RA01073D

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements