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Abstract
The selection of suitable composite material for high-strength industrial applications, from the list of available alternatives, is a tedious task as it requires an optimized structural performance-based solution. This study aimed to optimize the concentration of fillers, i.e., vinyl tri-ethoxy silane and absorbed gamma-dose, to enhance the properties of an industrial scale polymer, i.e., ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). The UHMWPE hybrids, in addition to silane, were treated with (30, 65, and 100 kGy) gamma dose and then tested for ten application-specific structural and performance attributes. The relative importance of attributes based on an 11-point fuzzy conversation was used for establishing the material assessment graph and corresponding adjacency matrix. Afterwards, the normalized values of attributes were used to establish the decision matrix for each alternative. The normalization was performed after the identification of high obligatory valued (HOV) and low obligatory valued (LOV) attributes. After this, suitability index values (SIVs) were calculated for ranking the hybrids that revealed hybrids 65 kGy irradiated the hybrid as the best choice and ranked as first among the existing alternatives. The major responsible factors were higher oxidation strength, a dense cross-linking network, and elongation at break. The values of the aforementioned factors for 65 kGy irradiated hybrids were 0.24, 91, and 360 MPa, respectively, as opposed to 0.54, 75, and 324 MPa for 100 kGy irradiated hybrids, thus placing the latter in second place regarding higher values of Yield Strength and Young Modulus. Finally, it is believed that the reported results and proposed model in this study will improve preoperative planning as far as considering these hybrids for high-strength industrial applications including total joint arthroplasty, textile-machinery pickers, dump trucks lining ships, and harbors bumpers and sliding, etc.
Highlights
As the focus of this study is to optimize the structure–property characteristics followed by the ranking of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)/Silane hybrids subsequent to radiation modification, the major structural attributes of UHMWPE considered in this study are the oxidation index (OI), gel contents (GC), % crystallinity (Xc), and peak melting temperature (Tm )
The performance attributes which are considered in the course of this study are thermal activation energy (Ethermal ), oxidative activation energy (Eoxidation ), fracture-strain (Eb ), crystalline lamella thickness (Lc), yield strength (YS), and Young’s modulus (YM)
Finding a simple and robust computational approach for determining the optimum solution from the existing alternatives of UHMWPE composites from industrial application point of view is the key problem which was addressed in this study
Summary
The strength of highly cross-linked UHMWPE is much higher as compared to pristine ones, the issue of the long-term oxidation stability of highly cross-linked UHMWPE persists due to the formation of free radicals during the process of irradiation. To cope with the aforementioned issue, the inclusion of α-tocopherol (vitamin E) is proposed, but the competitive role of α-tocopherol during the cross-linking reaction is responsible for reducing the cross-linking yield of radiation treatment. This reduction in cross-linking yield led the way for UHMWPE/silane hybrids, where double cross-linking yield for the gamma-irradiated hybrid can be obtained as compared to pristine
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