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Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)/high-density polyethylene (HDPE) blends with outstanding mechanical properties, wear resistance, and processability

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Abstract

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) has extremely outstanding mechanical properties and wear resistance, but its melt flowability is too poor, resulting in poor processability. In this work, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was melt-blended with UHMWPE to promote the flowability of UHMWPE melt. We investigated the effects of UHMWPE and HDPE contents on the rheological behavior, crystallization behavior, mechanical properties, and wear resistance of UHMWPE/HDPE blends. The results show that when the content ratio of UHMWPE and HDPE is 50:50, the UHMWPE/HDPE blend exhibits the best mechanical properties and wear resistance, as well as good processability. The tensile strength and elongation at break of 50UHMWPE/50HDPE are as high as 52.12 MPa and 700%, respectively, and the mass loss after erosion is only 0.04 g, which is far lower than the mass loss of pure HDPE (0.267g). Therefore, UHMWPE/HDPE blends with outstanding wear resistance and mechanical properties are expected to achieve large-scale industrial applications.

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Data available on request from the corresponding authors.

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Acknowledgement

All authors would like to appreciate the financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China, Grant Number: 2022YFC2803702; China Merchant Offshore Technology Research Center, Grant/Award Number: CMRD-B038. In addition, the authors would like to appreciate the Shiyanjia Lab (www.shiyanjia.com) for their technical support on DSC testing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, New Energy and Material college, University of Petroleum Beijing, Beijing, 102249, People’s Republic of China

    Yang Sui, Zhangjie Qiu, Jiacheng Li, Yi Cui, Peng Wei, Chuanbo Cong, Xiaoyu Meng & Qiong Zhou

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Failure, Corrosion, and Protection of Oil/Gas Facilities, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing, 102249, People’s Republic of China

    Yang Sui, Zhangjie Qiu, Jiacheng Li, Yi Cui, Peng Wei, Chuanbo Cong, Xiaoyu Meng & Qiong Zhou

  3. PipeChina Beijing Pipeline Co. LTD, Beijing, 122000, People’s Republic of China

    Ya Liu

  4. State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, People’s Republic of China

    Peng Wei

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  1. Yang Sui
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  2. Zhangjie Qiu
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  3. Ya Liu
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  4. Jiacheng Li
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  9. Qiong Zhou
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Correspondence to Qiong Zhou.

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Sui, Y., Qiu, Z., Liu, Y. et al. Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)/high-density polyethylene (HDPE) blends with outstanding mechanical properties, wear resistance, and processability. J Polym Res 30, 222 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-023-03592-y

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