Morphology development and mechanical properties variation during cold-drawing of polyethylene-clay nanocomposite fibers

Coppola, Bartolomeo; Scarfato, Paola; Incarnato, Loredana; Di Maio, Luciano

doi:10.3390/polym9060235

In this work, the influence of composition and cold-drawing on nano- and micro-scale morphology and tensile mechanical properties of PE/organoclay nanocomposite fibers was investigated. Nanocomposites were prepared by melt compounding in a twin-screw extruder, using a maleic anhydride grafted linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE-g-MA) and an organomodified montmorillonite (Dellite 67G) at three different loadings (3, 5 and 10 wt %). Fibers were produced by a single-screw extruder and drawn at five draw ratios (DRs): 7.25, 10, 13.5, 16 and 19. All nanocomposites, characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, and FT-IR techniques, showed an intercalated/exfoliated morphology. The study evidenced that the nanoclay presence significantly increases both elastic modulus (up to +115% for fibers containing 10 wt % of D67G) and drawability of as-spun nanocomposite fibers. Moreover, at fixed nanocomposite composition, the cold-drawing process increases fibers elastic modulus and tensile strength at increasing DRs. However, at high DRs, "face-to-edge" rearrangement phenomena of clay layers (i.e., clay layers tend to rotate and touch each other) arise in fibers at high nanoclay loadings. Finally, nanocomposite fibers show a lower diameter reduction during drawing, with respect to the plain system, and surface feature of adjustable roughness by controlling the composition and the drawing conditions.

Morphology development and mechanical properties variation during cold-drawing of polyethylene-clay nanocomposite fibers / Coppola, Bartolomeo; Scarfato, Paola; Incarnato, Loredana; Di Maio, Luciano. - In: POLYMERS. - ISSN 2073-4360. - 9:6(2017), pp. 235-251.

Titolo:	Morphology development and mechanical properties variation during cold-drawing of polyethylene-clay nanocomposite fibers
Autori:	COPPOLA, BARTOLOMEO SCARFATO, Paola INCARNATO, Loredana DI MAIO, Luciano mostra contributor esterni nascondi contributor esterni
Data di pubblicazione:	2017
Rivista:	POLYMERS
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym9060235
Appare nelle tipologie:	1.1 Articolo in rivista

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