Study on the Phase Behavior of High Density Polyethylene – Ethylene Octene Copolymer Blends

Abstract

AbstractThe processes of melting and crystallization of blends based on HDPE and EOC were investigated. DSC thermograms showed that a separate crystallization and co‐crystallization occurred in the blends studied. Avrami approach was used to analyze the kinetics of crystallization in the blends. It is shown that the Avrami exponent depends on the EOC concentration of the samples studied. The difference in the Avrami parameters for HDPE, EOC and the blends indicated that the nucleation mechanism and dimension of the spherulite growth of the blends were different from that of HDPE to some extent. The crystal growth was examined in the context of the Lauritzen‐Hoffman theory. DSC traces obtained at different cooling rates were used for analyzing the non‐isothermal crystallization. It was found that the Ozawa model was rather inapplicable for the materials studied. In contrast, the Avrami equation modified by Jeziorny can be used more efficiently to describe the non‐isothermal crystallization behavior of HDPE‐EOC blends.magnified image