Morphological and Mechanical Characterisation of HDPE-EVA Nanocomposites

 

 

Rahul K. Gupta, Ranjit Prasad, Deeptangshu S. Chaudhary, Musa R. Kamal1, Sati N. Bhattacharya*

 

Rheology and Materials Processing Centre, School of Civil and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne,
Australia 3000, Australia

*Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

 

 

Abstract

 

      This paper reports on morphological and mechanical properties of high-density polyethylene (HDPE)-ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) nanocomposites. The vinyl acetate (VA) content of the EVA was 9 wt%. Morphological characterization using wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have indicated the presence of intercalated morphologies interspersed with tactoids or agglomeration of clay layers with the matrix. WAXS has shown that increasing EVA9 content reduces HDPE crystallinity, thus increasing amorphous phase content. Also, the addition of clay produces a reduction in crystallinity and an increase in ‘rigid’ amorphous content. The tensile modulus has shown an increase with clay content for a particular HDPE-EVA9 blend, while producing no significant change in tensile strength. The tensile strength, however, seemed to be affected by the EVA9 content. Increasing the EVA9 content lowers tensile strength. 

 

Keywords: HDPE-EVA Blends, Nanocomposite, WAXS, TEM, Mechanical Testing

 


* Corresponding author Tel: +61-3-9925-2086; Fax: +61-3-9925-2268

  E-Mail address: Sati.Bhattacharya@rmit.edu.au