Improving the adhesion of polyethylene surfaces using Side-Chain crystalline block copolymer

Abstract

While polyethylene is widely used in consumer products, its use in other applications is limited because of low adhesive properties. In this study, the adhesive properties of high-density polyethylene were improved by a facile chemical treatment which was no require the special equipment or reagents. This simple treatment enabled the homogeneous modification of a polyethylene surface by dipping in a dilute solution containing a side-chain crystalline block copolymer (SCCBC) for a short time. SCCBC comprises of a block copolymer with one monomer containing long alkane side chains that form the side-chain crystalline units and the other that contains functional monomers. The adhesive strength of the high-density polyethylene film modified by SCCBC, as determined using a T-peel test and tensile shear test, was stronger than the non-modified high-density polyethylene substrate. Furthermore, this facile method imparted these strong adhesive properties to high-density polyethylene over a wide variety of treatment conditions such as temperature of SCCBC solution, concentration, dipping time and types of solvent.