Alpha Relaxation in Polyethylene

Colson, J. P.; Eby, R. K.; Sinnott, K. M.

doi:10.1063/1.1660047

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The tan θ peaks appearing at the higher temperature of 80 °C ( α relaxation peak) come from the rotation and slip of lamellae and the relaxation of fold molecular-chains on lamella surfaces [ 22 ]. The graft of polar-group molecules ameliorates crystalline characteristics by reducing the volume ratio of XLPE amorphous phase and the size of spherulites, resulting in the effective restriction on α relaxation, which accounts for the lowest α peak of XLPE-g-1.0wt%MAH.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water-Tree Characteristics and Its Mechanical Mechanism of Crosslinked Polyethylene Grafted with Polar-Group Molecules

Zheng

Pan

Sun

2022

IJMS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In order to restrain electric-stress impacts of water micro-droplets in insulation defects under alternating current (AC) electric fields in crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) material, the present study represents chemical graft modifications of introducing chloroacetic acid allyl ester (CAAE) and maleic anhydride (MAH) individually as two specific polar-group molecules into XLPE material with peroxide melting approach. The accelerated water-tree aging experiments are implemented by means of a water-blade electrode to measure the improved water resistance and the affording mechanism of the graft-modified XLPE material in reference to benchmark XLPE. Melting–crystallization process, dynamic viscoelasticity and stress-strain characteristics are tested utilizing differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), dynamic thermomechanical analyzer (DMA) and electronic tension machine, respectively. Water-tree morphology is observed for various aging times to evaluate dimension characteristics in water-tree developing processes. Monte Carlo molecular simulations are performed to calculate free-energy, thermodynamic phase diagram, interaction parameter and mixing energy of binary mixing systems consisting of CAAE or MAH and water molecules to evaluate their thermodynamic miscibility. Water-tree experiments indicate that water-tree resistance to XLPE can be significantly improved by grafting CAAE or MAH, as indicated by reducing the characteristic length of water-trees from 120 to 80 μm. Heterogeneous nucleation centers of polyethylene crystallization are rendered by the grafted polar-group molecules to ameliorate crystalline microstructures, as manifested by crystallinity increment from 33.5 to 36.2, which favors improving water-tree resistance and mechanical performances. The highly hydrophilic nature of CAAE can evidently inhibit water molecules from aggregating into water micro-droplets in amorphous regions between crystal lamellae, thus acquiring a significant promotion in water-tree resistance of CAAE-modified XLPE. In contrast, the grafted MAH molecules can enhance van der Waals forces between polyethylene molecular chains in amorphous regions much greater than the grafted CAAE and simultaneously act as more efficient crystallization nucleation centers to ameliorate crystalline microstructures of XLPE, resulting in a greater improvement (relaxation peak magnitude increases by >10%) of mechanical toughness in amorphous phase, which primarily accounts for water-tree resistance promotion.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water-Tree Characteristics and Its Mechanical Mechanism of Crosslinked Polyethylene Grafted with Polar-Group Molecules

Zheng

Pan

Sun

2022

IJMS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…With the increase of crosslinking degree, β peak shifts towards a lower temperature and increases in peak value, implying the exacerbated relaxations of XLPE molecular-chains. The loss factor increases monotonously with increasing temperature until to 90 °C where a relaxation peak called α peak appears to characterize the mechanical relaxations caused by rotation and slip of the folded molecular-chains on lamella surface [ 29 , 30 ]. The crosslinking reaction can promote molecular-chain concentrations in amorphous regions between the polyethylene lamellae, and the formed crosslinking network will hinder the rotation and slip of the folded molecular-chains on lamella surface.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water-Tree Resistant Characteristics of Crosslinker-Modified-SiO2/XLPE Nanocomposites

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) as a photoactive crosslinker is grafted onto hydrophobic nanosilica surface through click chemical reactions of mercapto double bonds to prepare the functionalized nanoparticles (TMPTA-s-SiO2), which are used to develop TMPTA-s-SiO2/XLPE nanocomposites with improvements in mechanical strength and electrical resistance. The expedited aging experiments of water-tree growth are performed with a water-knife electrode and analyzed in consistence with the mechanical performances evaluated by means of dynamic thermo-mechanical analysis (DMA) and tensile stress–strain characteristics. Due to the dense cross-linking network of polyethylene molecular chains formed on the TMPTA-modified surfaces of SiO2 nanofillers, TMPTA-s-SiO2 nanofillers are chemically introduced into XLPE matrix to acquire higher crosslinking degree and connection strength in the amorphous regions between polyethylene lamellae, accounting for the higher water-tree resistance and ameliorated mechanical performances, compared with pure XLPE and neat-SiO2/XLPE nanocomposite. Hydrophilic TMPTA molecules grafted on the nano-SiO2 surface can inhibit the condensation of water molecules into water micro-beads at insulation defects, thus attenuating the damage of water micro-beads to polyethylene configurations under alternating electric fields and thus restricting water-tree growth in amorphous regions. The intensified interfaces between TMPTA-s-SiO2 nanofillers and XLPE matrix limit the segment motions of polyethylene molecular chains and resist the diffusion of water molecules in XLPE amorphous regions, which further contributes to the excellent water-tree resistance of TMPTA-s-SiO2/XLPE nanocomposites.

show abstract

“…As the crosslinking degree of polyethylene increases, the β peak shifts to low temperatures and the amplitude rises gradually, implying that the molecular relaxations are exacerbated [ 27 ]. The loss factor peak arising at the relatively higher temperature is called α peak, which indicates the mechanical relaxations originating from the rotation and slip of the folded molecular chains in polyethylene lamellae [ 28 ]. The crosslinking reaction can increase the concentration and thus decrease the relaxation motions of molecular chains in amorphous area between polyethylene lamellae, and simultaneously impede the rotation and slip of the folded chains on lamella surface, as indicated by the highest β and the lowest α relaxation peaks of XLPE-TAIC.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water-Tree Resistability of UV-XLPE from Hydrophilicity of Auxiliary Crosslinkers

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The water-resistant characteristics of ultraviolet crosslinked polyethylene (UV-XLPE) are investigated specially for the dependence on the hydrophilicities of auxiliary crosslinkers, which is significant to develop high-voltage insulating cable materials. As auxiliary crosslinking agents of polyethylene, triallyl isocyanurate (TAIC), trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TMPTMA), and N,N′-m-phenylenedimaleimide (HAV2) are individually adopted to prepared XLPE materials with the UV-initiation crosslinking technique, for the study of water-tree resistance through the accelerating aging experiments with water blade electrode. The stress–strain characteristics and dynamic viscoelastic properties of UV-XLPE are tested by the electronic tension machine and dynamic thermomechanical analyzer. Monte Carlo molecular simulation is used to calculate the interaction parameters and mixing energy of crosslinker/water binary systems to analyze the compatibility between water and crosslinker molecules. Water-tree experiments verify that XLPE-TAIC represents the highest ability to inhibit the growth of water-trees, while XLPE-HAV2 shows the lowest resistance to water-trees. The stress–strain and viscoelastic properties show that the concentration of molecular chains connecting the adjacent lamellae in amorphous phase of XLPE-HAV2 is significantly higher than that of XLPE-TAIC and XLPE-TMPTMA. The molecular simulation results demonstrate that TAIC/water and TMPTMA/water binary systems possess a higher hydrophilicity than that of HAV2/water, as manifested by their lower interaction parameters and mixing free energies. The auxiliary crosslinkers can not only increase the molecular density of amorphous polyethylene between lamellae to inhibit water-tree growth, but also prevent water molecules at insulation defects from agglomerating into micro-water beads by increasing the hydrophilicity of auxiliary crosslinkers, which will evidently reduce the damage of micro-water beads on the amorphous phase in UV-XLPE. The better compatibility of TAIC and water molecules is the dominant reason accounting for the excellent water resistance of XLPE-TAIC.

show abstract

Alpha Relaxation in Polyethylene

Cited by 10 publications

References 4 publications

Water-Tree Characteristics and Its Mechanical Mechanism of Crosslinked Polyethylene Grafted with Polar-Group Molecules

Water-Tree Characteristics and Its Mechanical Mechanism of Crosslinked Polyethylene Grafted with Polar-Group Molecules

Water-Tree Resistant Characteristics of Crosslinker-Modified-SiO2/XLPE Nanocomposites

Water-Tree Resistability of UV-XLPE from Hydrophilicity of Auxiliary Crosslinkers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About