Abstract

Blends of scrap polyethylene (SPE) and virgin polyethylene (VPE) in the presence of polyfunctional monomer (PFM) were prepared with different ratios, then irradiated with electron beam up to 400 kGy. The gel fraction results showed that the gelation doses (Dgel) were 7 and 27 kGy for SPE and VPE respectively. Also, the values of (G)scission to (G)crosslinking (G(s)/G(x)) were found to be 1.5 and 0.85 for SPE and VPE respectively. The measurements of mechanical properties for unirradiated and irradiated blends showed that the tensile strength increased by increasing irradiation doses up to 200 kGy then, decreased with increasing irradiation dose. On the other hand, increasing irradiation doses decreased the elongation at break. Stress-relaxation experiments showed that the retained stress (σ/σo) values were decreased as experimental time increased. However, after a certain time (tc), the values of (σ/σo) were increased as the time increased for all samples. The results obtained from gel fraction and mechanical properties strongly correlate and demonstrate that the samples were crosslinked. Stress relaxation measurements reveals that the SPE was exposed to degradation process compared to VPE and the addition of PFM compensates the deterioration effect in the properties due to degradation process. Accordingly, SPE successfully could be reused again with better properties in different application in addition to its main use as greenhouse cover.

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