Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was melt blended with linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and subsequently compounded with glass fibers (GF) as reinforcements at percentages ranging from 15 to 45 wt% of LLDPE and 5 to 30 wt% of GF. Thermal, morphological, and mechanical properties of the prepared composites were investigated. It was found that compounding PET/LLDPE blends with GF would be beneficial in producing composites that are thermally stable with good mechanical properties. For example, the impact strength of the composites containing 85/15 wt% (PET/LLDPE) at relatively high loading of GF, ie, from 15 to 30 wt%, was higher than that of the GF-reinforced neat PET. When increasing the percentage of LLDPE in the composites, the impact strength increased with increasing GF content, and this was also better than that of GF-reinforced PET whose impact strength drastically decreased upon increasing the GF%. The improvement in mechanical properties of the composite, we suggest, should be correlated with the morphologies of the composites where the visualized interface adhesion tended to be better at higher loadings of both LLDPE and GF.
This research reports a visualization investigation of environmental stress cracking (ESC) of a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) prepared in house and a commercial high-density polyethylene. The in house made HDPE showed an excellent resistance against ESC as none of the tested samples cracked under chemical solution and that was due to higher value of molecular weight and less percentage of chain branching. On the other hand, the commercial HDPE had poor resistance against ESC under chemical solution, as all tested samples was cracked and completely splitted up into two pieces. An interesting finding of this research was that the commercial HDPE of relatively lower molecular weight cracked when stressed within the environment of ordinary water. Finally, this research recommended a thorough investigation of the role of additives and fillers on the ESC resistant of Polyethylene.
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