The effect of surface roughness and crystallinity on the light scattering of polyethylene tubular blown films

An experimental study of the effect of surface roughness and crystallinity on the light scattering of polyethylene tubular blown films is reported. Several films were prepared by varying the raw polyethylenes and the extrusion temperature. Other processing variables were maintained constant. We have made a statistical analysis of data and we have obtained multiple regressions between light scattering for a given wavelength of incident light and a given film thickness (30 μm, 50 μm, and 70 μm) and the independent variables average surface roughness and degree of crystallinity. It was demonstrated that, for the polymeric films studied, the surface texture evaluates better than crystallinity the variation of light scattering, but crystallinity has also some importance.     

The effect of ultraviolet light on the mechanical properties of polyethylene and polypropylene films

Measurements were made of dynamic mechanical response spectra and stress–strain properties at room temperature on films of isotactic polypropylene and low-density polyethylene prior and after ultraviolet irradiation in a Xenotest 450 apparatus. The period of irradiation that caused a deep deterioration of ultimate mechanical properties influenced the dynamic mechanical properties only insignificantly. This is attributed to the heterogeneous nature of the photo-oxidative degradation process which is concentrated in a finite number of sites, thus forming crack precursors rather than changing the material properties in bulk. For a biaxially oriented tubular film of low-density polyethylene, anisotropic embrittlement after exposure in Xenotest 450 was observed. This even reversed the order of strain-at-break values in the two main directions of the film. This is remarkably similar to the effect of artificial incisions introduced into the specimens.     

Surface roughness and light transmission of biaxially oriented polypropylene films

The effect of thermal history on the transparency of biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films was investigated. Compression molded sheets prepared with different cooling rates were biaxially oriented at several temperatures. Correlations were sought between the light transmission measured at 633 nm and the surface roughness as characterized by atomic force microscopy. It was determined that surface roughness on the 100-μm size scale was responsible for a loss in transparency. Surface roughness on the submicron size scale did not affect the transparency. The clearest films were obtained from compression molded sheets with the most homogeneous texture and by orienting at the lowest temperature. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 47:1658–1665, 2007. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers     

The effect of crystallinity on the light scattering of regenerated cellulose tubular films

An experimental study of the effect of crystallinity on the light scattering of regenerated cellulose tubular films is reported. Several films were prepared by varying manufacturing conditions, so that thickness and surface roughness were maintained approximately constant and the degrees of crystallinity varied between 38 and 66%. The scattered radiation intensity, measured between 220 and 550 nm decreases with the increasing wavelength. It was demonstrated that for the polymeric films studied, there was excellent agreement between crystallinity and scattering radiation intensity for a given wavelength. It was found that for crystallinity values less than around 57%, scattered radiation intensity decreases with increasing crystallinity, the reverse of that for crystallinity values greater than that percentage.     

Light transmission and haze of polyethylene blown thin films

The surface and bulk morphologies of polyethylene blown films are obtained using non‐contact Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Based on these experimental observations, a model using the Mie Scattering theory is proposed to describe the forward transmission and scattering of a plane wave through the film. The light transmission properties are computed from the proposed model and the results are validated by experimental measurements.     

Oriented structure and anisotropy properties of polymer blown films: HDPE, LLDPE and LDPE

Different types of polyethylene blown films (HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE) differ significantly in the ratio between machine and transverse direction tear resistance. In this paper, low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) blown films at different draw-down ratios are studied, and the relation between crystalline structure and anisotropy of blown film properties is investigated. The crystalline morphology and orientation of HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE blown films were probed using microscopy and infrared trichroism. Significant differences in crystalline morphology were found: at medium DDR HDPE developed a row-nucleated type morphology without lamellar twisting, LDPE showed rod-like crystalline morphology and turned out to the row-nucleated structure with twisted lamellae at high draw-down ratio (DDR), while a spherulite-like superstructure was observed for LLDPEs at all processing conditions. They also showed quite different orientation characteristics corresponding to different morphologies. The morphologies and orientation structure for LDPE, LLDPE and HDPE are related to the stress applied (DDR) and their relaxations in the flow-induced crystallization process, which determine the amount of fibrillar nuclei available at the time of crystallization and therefore, the final crystalline morphology. These structure differences are shown to translate into different ratios of machine and transverse direction tear and tensile strengths.     

The effect of process parameters on the properties of elastic melt blown nonwovens: Air pressure and DCD

An elastic masterbatch and elastic melt blown nonwovens are prepared based successively on styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene (SEBS) and polypropylene (PP) blend. The phase separation morphology, rheological properties and crystal structure of the elastic masterbatch are investigated. The results show that a compatible and stable structure is obtained in molten SEBS and PP blend with excellent mobility in the temperature range of 210–230°C. The crystallization of PP slows down resulting in a finer structure due to the restriction of the SEBS network structure with rarely change of crystalline structure. The relationship between process parameters and properties of the elastic nonwoven is also studied in detail. Air pressure and die to collector distance (DCD) have discernible effects on fiber diameter and bonding between fibers, further influencing the performances of nonwovens including porosity, tensile strength and elastic recovery. Elastic recovery is shown to be significantly more affected by DCD than by air pressure.     

Structures and properties of blown moulding LLDPE films

Abstract

The crystalline structures, mechanical properties, transparence and fracture behaviours of linear low density polyethylene blown moulding films with nucleating agents incorporated in were investigated. The results indicated that with the nucleating agents used, the melting temperature T _m, crystalline structures, general profile of the stress–strain curves, tensile yield strength σ _y and essential work of fracture parameters before yield of the films, were almost unchanged, while the strain hardening phenomenon, tensile fracture strength σ _b, elongation at break &epsi _b, transparence and fracture parameters w _e and βw _p were enhanced greatly. As the loading content of nucleating agent increasing, the crystallinity first decreased and then increased rapidly; the strain hardening phenomenon ? _b and σ _b increased to a maximum and then decrease to a stable value, while the T _m and σ _y were also unchanged; the haze decreased first and then reached a stable value; the w _e and w _e,y decreased remarkably first and then rapidly increased, even enormously exceeding the w _e of pure linear low density polyethylene, while βw _p and β _y w _p,y increased to a quite high value first and then dropped to a lower level.     

The effect of graphene flake size on the properties of graphene-based polymer composite films

In this work, the role of graphene flake size on the properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) composites was studied. Graphene flakes were added to PVDF-HFP using a solution mixing and molding process. By increasing graphene particle size and its concentration in the composites, higher electrical conductivity, in-plane thermal conductivity, and elastic modulus were achieved. Maximum tensile strength was obtained for the composites with average graphene flake size of 2, 5, and 7 μm at graphene concentrations of 10 wt%, 5 wt%, and 20 wt%, respectively. Thick flexible composite films (0.2–0.4 mm) with ultra-high in-plane electrical conductivity (~4500 S/m), in-plane thermal conductivity (~26 W/m/K), and tensile strength (~50 MPa) were obtained for the samples containing the graphene flakes with a larger average particle size of 7 μm. To our knowledge, the first two values are larger than any other values reported in the literature for PVDF-based composites.     

Morphological considerations on the mechanical properties of blown high-density polyethylene films

Blown films having a broad range of morphologies were prepared from high-density polyethylenes (HDPE) with unimodal and bimodal molecular weight distribution under several processing conditions, and the effect of their morphological features on the dart drop impact resistance, Elmendorf tear strength, and tensile properties of the films has been studied. The organization of lamellar stacks seems to play a critical role on the mechanical properties of the blown HDPE films. The dart drop impact resistance of the blown HDPE films is highly dependent on the presence of the network structure of lamellar stacks and the level of the intraconnectivity and interconnectivity of lamellar stacks. The coherent orientation of lamellar stacks leads to significant anisotropy of tear and tensile properties. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Effect of poly(ethylene methyl acrylate) copolymer on thermal,morphological, and mechanical properties of polypropylene copolymer blown films

Blends of polypropylene copolymer (PP‐cp) and poly(ethylene methyl acrylate) [poly(EMA)] copolymer blends were processed by blown film extrusion. The orientation and crystallinity of PP‐cp matrix in the blend did not change significantly with the addition of EMA. The low machine direction and transverse direction tear strengths, which are observed for neat polypropylene blown films more than doubled at 6 wt % or higher content of EMA. The increase in tear properties was mainly attributed to a fine dispersion of EMA in the matrix with an average particle size of 100–500 nm and the formation of elongated domains. The dispersed nonrounded EMA domains, resulting from the blown‐film process, enhance better energy dissipation mechanism with the formation of an extended plastic zone in the blend films as compared with that in pure PP‐cp films. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Effects of fillers on permeability and mechanical properties of HDPE blown films

HDPE compounds containing various amounts of rigid (platy talc) or deformable (nylon-6) oxygen barrier components were blended in a twin-screw extruder and processed into thin films by blown film extrusion. The films were tested for oxygen permeability and mechanical properties and analyzed for morphology. Optimization of barrier component content is shown to depend on the desired permeability level, film ductility and processability.     

HDPE/LLDPE/POE薄膜性能的研究

采用线型低密度聚乙烯（LLDPE）和热塑性弹性体乙烯-辛烯共聚物（POE）对高密度聚乙烯（HDPE）薄膜进行改性,研究了LLDPE和POE对共混体系薄膜力学性能、加工性能的影响,探讨了LLDPE增强HDPE的机理。结果表明,加入一定量LLDPE,使HDPE／LLDPE薄膜的拉伸强度较纯HDPE薄膜有所增加,而单位冲击破损质量则有所下降。当w（LLDPE）为15％时,HDPE／LLDPE薄膜的拉伸强度提高21．6％,薄膜的单位冲击破损质量降低23．0％。在HDPE／LLDPE/POE三元体系中,当w（POE）,w（LLDPE）分别为10％,15％时,薄膜的拉伸强度、单位冲击破损质量、断裂伸长率比纯HDPE薄膜分别提高2．3％,113％。36．0％,综合性能良好。     

Physical properties of polyethylene/silicate nanocomposite blown films

Maleated polyethylene/silicate nanocomposite and maleated polyethylene/SiO₂ blown films were prepared by melt extrusion. The silicate and SiO₂ significantly affected the physical properties of the films. The former films showed higher tensile strength than the latter films. This high reinforcement effect seemed to be attributable to the strong interaction between the matrix and silicate as well as the uniform dispersion of silicate layers in the polymer matrix. The addition of silicate beyond a certain content gave a worse Elmendorf tear strength than SiO₂. The silicate did not increase the falling dart impact strength at all. The worst Elmendorf strength apparently originated from the orientation of anisotropic silicate rather than the orientation of lamellae of the polymer matrix, and the silicate made the films more brittle. The well‐dispersed silicate layers in the polymer matrix gave almost the same optical properties as the pure polymer despite the increase in the silicate content. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 2131–2136, 2003     

Heat sealing of semicrystalline polymer films. I. Calculation and measurement of interfacial temperatures: Effect of process variables on seal properties

A finite element analysis (FEA) modeling technique was used to predict the interfacial temperature as a function of time during the sealing of semicrystalline polymer films. An experimental technique using micro-thermocouples to measure rapidly changing interfacial temperatures during sealing was also developed. Agreement between predicted interfacial temperature profiles and measured values for polyethylene films was good except at temperatures substantially above the final melting point of the polymer. This deviation is caused by film-thickness changes occurring during sealing that are not taken into account in the calculations. The effect of heat-sealing process variables (seal bar temperature, dwell time, and pressure) on seal properties (seal strength, seal elongation, and seal energy) of polyethylene films has also been quantitatively determined. Seal properties are determined primarily by the maximum temperature achieved at the interface during heat sealing. Dwell time must be sufficiently long to bring the interfacial temperature to a desired level, but longer times at a given interfacial temperature do not improve seal properties at the conditions of our experiments. A slight pressure is helpful in bringing two microscopically uneven film surfaces into intimate contact, but higher pressure has no beneficial influence on seal properties. However, increased pressures and dwell times at temperatures above the final melting point of the polymer are detrimental to seal appearance due to material deformation in the sealing area. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The effect of variations in light intensity on the photo-oxidation of polypropylene

When polypropylene foil was photo-oxidized in a laboratory UV aging apparatus, the rate of photo-oxidation was proportional to various fractional powers of the light intensity depending on the type of lamp(s) used and whether the polymer was stabilized or unstabilized.     

成核剂对聚丙烯性能的影响

研究了各种α晶型成核剂和β晶型成核剂对聚丙烯性能的影响,发现用α晶型成核剂NA-11和用N催化剂生产的高等规指数聚丙烯组合,可制成透明型高强度、高耐热聚丙烯。这种高性能聚丙烯在家电、汽车等方面具有极为广泛的应用前景。