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Toughness of HDPE/CaCO 3 microcomposites prepared from masterbatch by melt blend method
Author(s) -
Ali Ilias,
Elleithy Rabeh
Publication year - 2011
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.34417
Subject(s) - materials science , composite material , fracture toughness , high density polyethylene , nanocomposite , masterbatch , scanning electron microscope , polyethylene , composite number , fracture (geology) , toughness
Abstract In this study, a series of high‐density polyethylene and micro/nanocalcium carbonate polymer composites (HDPE/CaCO 3 nanocomposites) were prepared via melt blend technique using a twin screw extruder. Nanocomposite samples were prepared via injection molding for further testing. The effect of % loading of CaCO 3 on mechanical and fracture toughness of these composites has been investigated in details. The effect of precrack length variation on the fracture toughness of the composite samples was evaluated, and the morphology of the fractured samples was also observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that increasing the % of CaCO 3 and precrack length decreased the fracture toughness. Fracture surface examination by SEM indicated that the diminished fracture properties in the composites were caused by the aglomerization of CaCO 3 particles which acted as stress concentrators. A finite element analysis using ANSYS was also carried out to understand the effect of agglomeration size, interaction between the particles and crack tip length on the fracture properties of these composites. Finally, a schematic presentation of the envisioned fracture processes was proposed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011