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Cold compaction and sintering of ultrahigh‐molecular‐weight polyethylene containing a segregated iron network
Author(s) -
Krishnamurthy V.,
Kamel I. L.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.760290811
Subject(s) - materials science , sintering , compaction , composite material , polymer , filler (materials) , polyethylene
To improve the powder processing behavior of ultrahigh‐molecular‐weight polyethylene, a conductive iron filler was distributed within the polymer in a segregated network. The filler level was kept at a minimum of 10 volume percent, which was sufficient to coat completely all the polymer particle surfaces. This filler level was low enough to avoid modifying the resin properties to a significant extent. Compaction of these filled samples showed a slower densification, under pressure, similar level of final densification at 80% densification parameter, and a doubling of plateau pressure value to 200 MPa in comparison with the unfilled polymer. The filler was found to reduce drastically the postcompaction relaxation time from 24 h to 6 h. The magnitude of the axial (compaction direction) relaxation was unchanged, but the radial relaxation was one quarter of that for the unfilled polymer. Sintering behavior showed improved densification because of lower dimensional changes during sintering resulting in 80% relative sintered density, higher than the 75% percent value for the unfilled polymer, but yielded a 20% lower sintered strength, An alternative process of rapid sintering by induction heating was explored, its feasibility demonstrated, and a recommendation is made to make powder processing of this polymer commercially attractive.