Shrinkage effect on polyethylene based blends

Abstract

An experimental study of the shrinkage effect in low density-high density polyethylene blends, high density-high density polyethylene blends and low density polyethylene-ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer blends is presented. Viscosity measurements are also included. The strain recovery is analysed as the addition of the interfacial tension effect and the elastic recoverable strain. The results are compared with those obtained for other polyolefin blends observing that in the case of compatible systems as low density-high density polyethylene and high density-high density polyethylene blends the strain recovery and the viscosity follow approximately the additive rule. In the case of more incompatible systems like polyethylene-ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer, polyethylene-polypropylene and others very large recoveries were observed. The formation of minifibres of the dispersed phase during the preparation of the samples is suggested as responsible for the obtained results.