Polyethylene toughened by rigid inorganic particles

High density polyethylene (HDPE) is toughened by particles of rigid inorganic filler CaCO 3 , which is treated with phosphate. The stress‐strain curve of the HDPE/modified‐CaCO 3 (80/20) composite covers a greater area than that of HDPE, and the impact strength of HDPE is greatly improved by modified CaCO 3 from 230 J/m to 580 J/m as CaCO 3 content is increased to 50 wt%. Morphological observation indicates a finer dispersion of the modified‐CaCO 3 particles and a large plastic deformation of HDPE. The cavitation and stress field interaction around the particles are considered to explain the toughening mechanism.