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Melt rheological properties of ETFE: an attempt to illuminate the fluorine-substitution effect

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Abstract

Flow behaviors and rheological properties of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene alternating copolymer (ETFE) under high-shear conditions were first reported. Flow instabilities, shear and extensional viscosities, and die swell of ETFE were investigated. Rheological behaviors of perfluorinated ethylene propylene copolymers (FEP), partially fluorinated ETFE, and non-fluorinated polyethylenes (PE) were compared for understanding the role of fluorine incursion on materials properties. It is found that (1) ETFE does not have sharkskin region or second smooth region which frequently occurs in FEP and linear PE; (2) critical shear stresses at which surface melt fracture occurs for the three polymers follow the order: FEP < ETFE < PE; (3) stable flow region narrows, die swell weakens, and flow activation energy increases when fluorine content of polymer increases. After time–temperature superposition, shifted shear viscosity, extensional viscosity, and elastic data (die swell) present universal scaling characteristic and superpose well in term of the same shift factors.

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Abbreviations

D :

Diameter of the die (mm)

L :

Length of the die (mm)

Q:

Volume throughout rate (cm3•s−1)

ΔP :

Pressure drops (Pa)

ΔP ent :

Entrance pressure drops (Pa)

τ a :

Apparent shear stress (Pa)

τ tr :

True shear stress (Pa)

\( \dot{\gamma}_{a} \) :

Apparent shear rate (s−1)

\( \dot{\gamma}_{tr} \) :

True shear rate (s−1)

η :

Shear viscosity (Pa s)

σ e :

Extensional stress (Pa)

\( \dot{\varepsilon } \) :

Extensional deformation rate (s−1)

η e :

Extensional viscosity (Pa s)

η 0 :

Zero-shear viscosity (Pa s)

n :

Non-Newtonian index

μ :

Trouton ratio, \( \mu = \frac{{\eta_{\text{e}} }}{\eta } \)

α T :

Shift factor

B :

Die swell ratio

ρ s :

Polymer density at ambient temperature, g cm−3

ρ m :

Polymer density at test temperature, g cm−3

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge financial supports from the “11th 5-year” National Key Technologies R&D Program of China (no. 2006BAE02A04) and the Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project (no. B202).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Yong Chen, Wang Zhang Yuan, Fei Ai, Hong Li, Lei Li & Yongming Zhang

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, North University of China, Taiyuan, 030051, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Yong Chen

  3. Shangdong Dongyue Ltd, Zibo, 256400, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Wang

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  1. Xiao-Yong Chen
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  2. Wang Zhang Yuan
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  4. Hong Li
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Correspondence to Wang Zhang Yuan or Yongming Zhang.

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Chen, XY., Yuan, W.Z., Ai, F. et al. Melt rheological properties of ETFE: an attempt to illuminate the fluorine-substitution effect. Polym. Bull. 69, 375–388 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-012-0759-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-012-0759-1

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