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Morphology, rheological, thermal, and mechanical properties of high-density polyethylene toughened by propylene-ethylene random copolymers

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Abstract

Propylene-ethylene random copolymer (PEC) elastomer was used to toughen high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The morphology, thermal behavior, rheological, and mechanical properties of HDPE/PEC blends were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results revealed that PEC-rich domains dispersed evenly in the HDPE matrix, and HDPE/PEC blends were immiscible. Rheological measurements indicated that the HDPE/PEC blends exhibited higher melt strength and viscosity than neat HDPE, which was beneficial to foaming and blow molding of HDPE. From the results of DSC, PEC elastomer inhibited the crystallization and reduced the degree of crystallinity of HDPE. It was noteworthy that the significant enhancement of the toughness of HDPE was obtained by adding PEC elastomer. The maximum elongation at break (684.6%) and impact strength (35.3 kJ m−2) were achieved for the HDPE/PEC blends, which increased by 110% and 240%, respectively, compared with neat HDPE. Therefore, PEC elastomer could be used as an effective impact modifier for HDPE.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Key Laboratory for Comprehensive Energy Saving of Cold Regions Architecture of Ministry of Education, Jilin Jianzhu University in Jilin Province.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Comprehensive Energy Saving of Cold Regions Architecture of Ministry of Education, Jilin Jianzhu University, Changchun, 130118, China

    Yi Li

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin Jianzhu University, Changchun, 130118, China

    Yi Li, Dongdong Li & Hongda Cheng

  3. Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China

    Yancun Yu, Ye Zhang, Hechang Shi & Changyu Han

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  1. Yi Li
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  2. Dongdong Li
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  3. Hongda Cheng
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  4. Yancun Yu
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  5. Ye Zhang
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  6. Hechang Shi
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Correspondence to Changyu Han.

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Li, Y., Li, D., Cheng, H. et al. Morphology, rheological, thermal, and mechanical properties of high-density polyethylene toughened by propylene-ethylene random copolymers. Colloid Polym Sci 301, 117–126 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-022-05049-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-022-05049-y

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