Abstract
In this work, we presented plasma modification of low-density polyethylene (PE) powder using unconventional chemicals. This work focused on the thermal behavior of modified PE. Plasma modification of PE was carried out using unconventional chemical vapor i.e., acetone, toluene, ethanol, methanol, isopropanol, and chloroform, respectively. For all the process, the modification time was kept constant for 2 min. Chamber pressure of 100 Pa was used for the study. The thermal behavior of the plasma-modified and unmodified PE was carried out by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. We have found that there is a maximum improvement of crystallinity and thermal stability of PE when ethanol is used for plasma modification. Results obtained from DSC showed that plasma modification of PE in ethanol vapors increases the crystallinity of the PE without damaging the surface properties. Thermal stability of PE plasma modified in ethanol gives maximum thermal improvement to almost 25 °C at 5 mass% mass loss compared to unmodified PE.
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Acknowledgements
The research reported in this paper was supported in part by the Project OP VaVpI Centre for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovation CZ.1.05/2.1.00/01.0005 and by the Project Development of Research Teams of R&D Projects at the Technical university of Liberec CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0024.
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Patra, N., Hladik, J. & Martinová, L. Investigating the thermal properties of polyethylene plasma modified by using unconventional chemical vapors. J Therm Anal Calorim 117, 229–234 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-014-3728-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-014-3728-0