Paint Solvent Permeation Resistance of Polyethylene, Polyethylene/Polyamide and Polyethylene/Modified Polyamide Bottles

The main objective of this study is to investigate the barrier mechanisms and properties of polyethylene, polyethylene (PE)/polyamide (PA) and polyethylene/modified polyamide (MPA) bottles against paint solvent permeation. In addition to the paint mixed solvent, the barrier properties of these bottles against the permeation of pure main solvents contained in the paint mixed solvent were investigated to understand the permeation mechanisms of the paint solvents. The paint solvent permeation resistance improves dramatically after blending PA and MPA barrier resins in PE matrices during blow‐molding. In fact, by using proper compositions, the white spirit permeation rates of PE/MPA and PE/PA bottles at 40°C are about 360 and 50 times slower than that of the PE bottle, respectively. Further investigations showed that, after blending the MPA and PA barrier resins in PE matrices, the hydrocarbon solvents present in the white spirit were nearly blocked without permeation during the permeation tests, i. e., PE/MPA bottles inhibited the permeation of hydrocarbon solvents more successfully than PE/PA bottles. In contrast, the rates of polar solvents with ketone, ether and alcohol functional groups permeating through the PE bottles are much slower than that of the white spirit and only slightly faster than those through the PE/PA and PE/MPA bottles. On the other hand, the paint mixed solvent permeation rates of PE bottles are approximately equal to the summation of permeation rates of the solvents present in mixed solvents calculated using a simple mixing rule. Somewhat surprising, the permeation rates of mixed solvents of PE/MPA bottles are dramatically faster than those calculated using a simple mixing rule, when the polar solvent contents are in a certain range.