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An investigation of water crosslinking reactions of silane‐grafted LDPE
Author(s) -
Shieh YeongTarng,
Liau JiaSheng,
Chen TzungKai
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1428
Subject(s) - silane , materials science , activation energy , grafting , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , low density polyethylene , morphology (biology) , amorphous solid , diffusion , chemistry , polyethylene , composite material , polymer , organic chemistry , thermodynamics , physics , biology , engineering , genetics
Factors—including time, temperature, morphology, and thickness of sample, the extent of silane grafting, and water concentration—that affect the rate and degree of water crosslinking reactions of the silane‐grafted LDPE are investigated. The gel content of the water‐crosslinked sample increases with increasing time, temperature, and water concentration, but with decreasing content of the crystalline component in the sample and thickness of the sample. The relationship between the gel content and the crosslinking time is dependent on thickness and morphology of the sample, and the extent of silane grafting in the sample. The crosslinking rates and the resultant gel content are inversely proportional to the content of crystalline component of the sample, suggesting that the crosslinking reactions occur mainly in the amorphous domain of the sample. For those samples with high resultant gel contents, the crystallizations of the samples are significantly enhanced by crosslinking when the gel contents are higher than about 40%, leading to a dual relationship between the gel contents of the samples and the crosslinking times. For low temperatures, the rate‐determining step of the crosslinking reactions is the diffusion of water, rather than the hydrolysis and the subsequent condensation reactions of the silyl trimethoxy groups. For high temperatures and high extents of silane grafting in the samples, however, the chemical reactions dominate the crosslinking process. The overall activation energy of the crosslinking reactions is dependent on thickness of the sample. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 81: 186–196, 2001