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Effect of Cold-Drawn Fibers on the Self-Reinforcement of PP/LDPE Composites

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Abstract

In our previous study, a method to fabricate super-ductile polypropylene/low-density polyethylene (PP/LDPE) blends was proposed, and a fiber-shape structure was shown to be formed, presenting necking propagation during tensile testing. In this study, the mechanical properties and thermal behavior of the necking region of tested super-ductile PP/LDPE samples were carefully investigated and further compared with the melt-stretched, untested, and thermo-mechanical-history-removed samples by differential scanning calorimetry and tensile testing. The results suggest that the tested samples have high mechanical properties and are more thermo-mechanically stable than the common PP/LDPE blends and melt-stretched samples. Additionally, to investigate their structure-property relationship, the necking region of the tested samples was further characterized by scanning electron microscopy and hot-stage polarized light microscopy. It can be concluded that the variation of the microstructure can be attributed to the cold-drawn fibers (CDFs), which were more stable thermally, formed during the tensile test. Furthermore, the CDFs were used for the filler in PP/LDPE blends. The experimental results of the different PP/LDPE composites indicate that the CDFs are a good reinforcement candidate and have the ability to improve the mechanical properties of the PP/LDPE blends.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51373048), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, the Postgraduate Research Innovation Program of Jiangsu University of Science and Technology (Grant No. YCX16S-19), and the Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. KYCX17_1833) for their financial support. The correspondence author also thanks Prof. Chang-Yu Shen at State Intellectual Property Office, Prof. Jing-Bo Chen and Prof. Cun-Tai Liu at Zhengzhou University, and Prof. Lih-Sheng Turng at University of Wisconsin-Madison for their helpful suggestion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, 212003, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Ying-Guo Zhou & Bei Su

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People’s Republic of China

    Hai-Hong Wu

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  1. Ying-Guo Zhou
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Correspondence to Ying-Guo Zhou.

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Zhou, YG., Su, B. & Wu, HH. Effect of Cold-Drawn Fibers on the Self-Reinforcement of PP/LDPE Composites. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 26, 4072–4082 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-017-2823-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-017-2823-3

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