Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

On the characterization of viscoelastic behaviours of ultra-high molecular polyethylene composite with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate ionic liquid

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Polymer Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introducing ionic liquids (ILs) into ultra-high molecular polyethylene (UHMWPE) is a promising approach to improving the processibility of UHMWPE. To have a comprehensive understanding of the role of ILs in affecting the properties and molecular structures of UHWMPE, we conducted a systematic study on the viscoelastic behaviours of UHMWPE/IL composites with various ILs content at room temperature. Stress relaxation tests were performed under constant tensile strain (\({\varepsilon }_{0}=\) 0.47%). Constant strain-rate tests were also performed at five strain rates over the range of 2 × 10–3 s−1 to 1.7 × 10–1 s−1. To have deeper insights into the phenomena and the structure–property relationship, theoretical modelling based on the generalized Maxwell model was employed to study the time-dependent relaxation modulus. The modelling results suggest decreased elasticity and viscosity by the addition of ILs, indicating weakened bonding and enhanced motions of chain segments. Moreover, experimental yield stresses from the constant strain-rate tests were modelled by the cooperative model, which is based on the Eyring’s activation theory and takes the cooperative motion of chain segments into accounts. Analysis of the modelling results also shows that ILs increased the effective volume and decreased the energy barrier required to activate chain motions, confirming the enhanced mobilities of chain segments of UHMWPE by the addition of ILs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Boscoletto AB, Franco R, Scapin M, Tavan M (1997) An investigation on rheological and impact behaviour of high density and ultra high molecular weight polyethylene mixtures. Eur Polym J 33(1):97–105

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Jaggi HS, Satapathy BK, Ray AR (2014) Viscoelastic properties correlations to morphological and mechanical response of HDPE/UHMWPE blends. J Polym Res 21(8)

  3. Guofang G, Huayong Y, Xin F (2004) Tribological properties of kaolin filled UHMWPE composites in unlubricated sliding. Wear 256(1):88–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Gupta S, Riyad MF, Ji Y (2016) Synthesis and tribological behavior of Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE)-Lignin Composites. Lubricants 4(3)

  5. Yilmaz G, Ellingham T, Turng LS (2018) Improved processability and the processing-structure-properties relationship of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene via supercritical nitrogen and carbon dioxide in injection molding. Polymers (Basel) 10(1)

  6. Drakopoulos SX, Psarras GC, Forte G, Martin-Fabiani I, Ronca S (2018) Entanglement dynamics in ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene as revealed by dielectric spectroscopy. Polymer (Guildf) 150:35–43

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Li X, Mao Y, Ma H, Zuo F, Hsiao BS, Chu B (2011) An in-situ X-ray scattering study during uniaxial stretching of ionic liquid/ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene blends. Polymer (Guildf) 52(20):4610–4618

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Xing C, Zheng X, Xu L, Jia J, Ren J, Li Y (2014) Toward an optically transparent, antielectrostatic, and robust polymer composite: Morphology and properties of polycarbonate/ionic liquid composites. Ind Eng Chem Res 53(11):4304–4311

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Zhao L, Li Y, Liu Z, Shimizu H (2010) Carbon nanotube-conducting polymer core−shell hybrid using an imidazolium-salt-based ionic liquid as a linker: designed as a potential platinum electrode alternative material for large-scale solution processing. Chem Mater 22(21):5949–5956

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Xing C, Zhao L, You J, Dong W, Cao X, Li Y (2012) Impact of ionic liquid-modified multiwalled carbon nanotubes on the crystallization behavior of poly(vinylidene fluoride). J Phys Chem B 116(28):8312–8320

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Ding Y, Tang H, Zhang X, Wu S, Xiong R (2008) Antistatic ability of 1-n-tetradecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide and its effects on the structure and properties of polypropylene. Eur Polym J 44(4):1247–1251

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Rahman M, Brazel CS (2006) Ionic liquids: New generation stable plasticizers for poly(vinyl chloride). Polym Degrad Stab 91(12):3371–3382

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Scott MP, Brazel CS, Benton MG, Mays JW, Holbrey JD, Rogers RD (2002) Application of ionic liquids as plasticizers for poly(methyl methacrylate). Chem Commun 13:1370–1371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Scott MP, Rahman M, Brazel CS (2003) Application of ionic liquids as low-volatility plasticizers for PMMA. Eur Polym J 39(10):1947–1953

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Virtanen P et al (2020) SciPy 1.0: fundamental algorithms for scientific computing in Python. Nat Methods 17(3):261–272

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Li Y, He H, Ma Y, Geng Y, Tan J (2019) Rheological and mechanical properties of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene/high density polyethylene/polyethylene glycol blends. Adv Ind Eng Polym Res 2(1):51–60

    Google Scholar 

  17. Fotheringham DG, Cherry BW (1978) The role of recovery forces in the deformation of linear polyethylene. J Mater Sci 13(5):951–964

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Eyring H (1936) Viscosity, plasticity, and diffusion as examples of absolute reaction rates. J Chem Phys 4(4):283–291

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Povolo F, Hermida EB (1995) Phenomenological description of strain rate and temperature-dependent yield stress of PMMA. Appl Polym 58(1):55–68

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Su H, Strachan A, Goddard WA (2004) Density functional theory and molecular dynamics studies of the energetics and kinetics of electroactive polymers: PVDF and P(VDF-TrFE). Phys Rev B - Condens Matter Mate. Phys 70(6):1–8

    Google Scholar 

  21. Gómez-del Río T, Rodríguez J (2012) Compression yielding of epoxy: Strain rate and temperature effect. Mater Des 35:369–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work has been funded by the Industry-University-Research Program of HKUST, Foshan City, China (FSUST19-FYTEI02), Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (16306021), HKUST grant (R9418), the Project of Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone (HZQB-KCZYB-2020083), and the Society of Interdisciplinary Research (SOIRÉE). This research made use of the computing resources of the X-GPU cluster supported by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council Collaborative Research Fund (C6021-19EF).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China

    Ziru Huang & Haibin Su

  2. HKUST Shenzhen-Hong Kong Collaborative Innovation Research Institute, Futian, Shenzhen, 518048, China

    Ziru Huang & Haibin Su

  3. Guangzhou HKUST Fok Ying Tung Research Institute, No.2, Huan Shi Da Dao Road, Nansha IT ParkGuangzhou, China

    Zhaorong Wan & Dong LU

  4. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China

    Yongli Mi

Authors
  1. Ziru Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhaorong Wan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dong LU
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yongli Mi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Haibin Su
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yongli Mi or Haibin Su.

Ethics declarations

Competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 34 KB)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Huang, Z., Wan, Z., LU, D. et al. On the characterization of viscoelastic behaviours of ultra-high molecular polyethylene composite with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate ionic liquid. J Polym Res 29, 391 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-022-03187-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-022-03187-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation