Abstract:
The effects of thermomechanical history upon the morphology evolution of
selected polyolefin blends were investigated. A blend of polyethylene (PE) and an
elastomeric poly(ethylene-co-1-octene) (EOC) resin, containing 7 mol% of octene and
long chain branching, was phase separated in a melt under quiescent conditions. After
melt flow, the blend had fine globular or interconnected phase morphologies that were
interpreted as originating from the various stages of coarsening after liquid-liquid
phase separation through spinodal decomposition. It was inferred that the miscibility
of the blend was enhanced under melt flow. Upon cessation of flow, concurrent liquidliquid
and solid-liquid phase separation took place, resulting in the formation of an
interpenetrating morphology. Processing history was found to have a marked effect
upon the subsequent morphology formation, with higher processing temperatures
leading to slower coarsening in subsequent operations.
The plane stress fracture toughness of extruded sheets of the PE / EOC blend
samples showed that the presence of EOC did not affect the work of fracture, (energy
needed to create a fracture), when crack propagation took place in the transverse
direction of the extruded sheet, in comparison with pure PE. The branched copolymer
increased the overall work of fracture for crack propagation in the machine direction
due to an increase in the non-essential work of fracture, but had no significant effect
upon the essential work of fracture. A blend of polyethylene (PE) and poly(ethyleneco-
1-butene) (ECB) was also used to investigate the effect of the types of branched
copolymer upon the fracture toughness of the PE / copolymer blend system. It was
found that the PE / ECB blend system has a finer length-scale morphology, which is a
consequence of a greater compatibility than the PE / EOC blend system; this results in
enhanced plane stress fracture toughness in comparison with the EOC system