Nonisothermal crystallization behavior of Cu/LDPE nanocomposites prepared by solution blending method

• Published in: Journal of applied polymer science Vol. 124; no. 4; pp. 3348 - 3356
• Main Authors: Peng, Zhongrui, Cai, Shuizhou, Xia, Xianping, Xie, Changsheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 15.05.2012; Wiley; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Composites; crystallization; Exact sciences and technology; extrusion melt method; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; Materials science; nanocomposites; Polymer industry, paints, wood; Polymers; solution blending method; Technology of polymers; thermal properties; Crystallization; Experimental study; Metal particle; Modeling; nanocomposites; Composite material; Thermal properties; Kinetic model; Low density ethylene polymer; Concentration effect; extrusion melt method; Extrusion; Olefin polymer; Nanocomposite; Kinetics; solution blending method; Copper; Activation energy
• ISSN: 0021-8995; 1097-4628
• DOI: 10.1002/app.35316

The nonisothermal crystallization behavior of Copper/low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) nanocomposites was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The nanocomposites were prepared by solution blending method, and the traditional extrusion melt method was also employed for comparison. The DSC results show that under identical copper content condition, the crystallization of the LDPE is facilitated owing to the higher degree of molecular regularity and the lesser chain entanglement for the nanocomposites prepared by the solution blending method in comparison with the traditional extrusion melt method. The differences of nonisothermal crystallization behavior diminish with the increasement of copper content between the nanocomposites prepared by the two methods. SEM/EDX was applied to study the dispersion of copper nanoparticles in the nanocomposites, and the results illustrate that the dispersion condition can be better when the solution blending method was employed. The investigation of the effective activation energy on the relative extent crystallization implies that the agglomeration of copper nanoparticles can facilitate the crystallization of the LDPE, while the well‐dispersed copper nanoparticles act as obstacles since the motion of the LDPE molecular chains is limited. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012