Premium
Gel, thermal, and X‐ray diffraction characterization of virgin, scrapped polyethylene and its blends
Author(s) -
Ali Zakaria,
Badr Yehia,
Eisa Waiel
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
polymer composites
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.577
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1548-0569
pISSN - 0272-8397
DOI - 10.1002/pc.20251
Subject(s) - materials science , composite material , characterization (materials science) , thermal , polyethylene , diffraction , x ray , optics , nanotechnology , physics , meteorology
The characterizations of virgin and scrapped polyethylene samples (VPE and SPE) and VPE/SPE blends were studied using different analytical techniques. The obtained data regarding crosslink density demonstrated that the radiation‐induced crosslinking of VPE, SPE, and VPE/SPE samples increased as a result of increasing irradiation dose, blending VPE with SPE, and loading the VPE/SPE blend with trimethylol propane triacrylate (TMPTA). The use of differential scanning calorimetry technique was aimed at revealing the effect of sample composition (VPE, SPE, and VPE/SPE) and also the effect and type of irradiation on the melting temperature ( T m ) and the heat of transformation (Δ H f ). The melting temperature and heat of transformation increased with increasing either irradiation dose or loading the polymeric samples with TMPTA. In addition, the application of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to study the degradation characteristics of the polymeric samples in terms of onset temperature ( T i ), temperature at maximum weight loss ( T s ), and activation energy ( E a ). The TGA results showed that the irradiation (EB and γ‐rays) and loading of polymeric samples with TMPTA led to a thermally stable polymeric matrix with higher T i , T s , and E a values. The blank SPE sample or those blend rich in SPE matrix were highly thermally stable than that blank VPE one. The X‐ray diffraction investigation illustrated that VPE samples undergoes phase transformation between orthorhombic, monomclinic, and/or hexagonal as a result of irradiation. POLYM. COMPOS. 27:709–717, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers