Development of a Wear-Resistant Extrudable Composite Material Based on an Ultrahigh-Molecular Polyethylene with Predetermined Properties

Abstract

The necessary composition and content of fillers of a multicomponent extrudable composition based on an ultrahigh-molecular polyethylene (UHMPE) with specified mechanical and tribotechnical characteristics are determined. For the purpose of effective and operational development of extrudable composites based on an UHMPE, a minimum amount of experimental data and an algorithm for determining the governing parameters (formulations) is used, which give the needed (restrictive) values for the effective characteristics of multicomponent polymer-polymer compositions. This allows one to secure the tribological, mechanical and technological properties required. The limited amount of experimental data for the relation between the effective properties and the formulation required is supplemented by values calculated using the Lagrange interpolation polynomial. The relations obtained are represented as surfaces and the corresponding level lines. The imposition of level lines allows one to determine the area that meets the requirements specified and to find the formulation necessary for it. On the basis of this algorithm, the optimum formulation of a three-component mixture consisting of an UHMPE, a high-density polyethylene grafted with maleic anhydride, and a polypropylene having tribomechanical properties at the level of an UHMPE, but with a melt flow-behavior index suitable for 3D printing by fused deposition modeling, is determined. According to the formulation found, samples were made and tested, and they completely satisfied the properties prescribed.