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. 2023 Sep 5;15(18):3655.
doi: 10.3390/polym15183655.

Effect of Octene Block Copolymer (OBC) and High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) on Crystalline Morphology, Structure and Mechanical Properties of Octene Random Copolymer

Yuan-Xia Wang  1   2 , Cun-Ying Zou  1   3 , Nan Bai  1   2 , Qun-Feng Su  1   3 , Li-Xin Song  1   3 , Xian-Liang Li  1   3
Affiliations

Effect of Octene Block Copolymer (OBC) and High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) on Crystalline Morphology, Structure and Mechanical Properties of Octene Random Copolymer

Yuan-Xia Wang et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Blending octene random copolymer (ORC) with other polymers is a promising approach to improving ORC mechanical properties, such as tensile strength and elongation. In this study, octene block copolymer (OBC) with lower density than ORC and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) were used to blend with ORC. The effect of both OBC and HDPE on ORC was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). For ORC/OBC blends, a small amount of OBC can improve the crystallization ability of ORC. Meanwhile, for ORC/HDPE blends, the crystallization ability of ORC was significantly suppressed, attributed to good compatibility between ORC and HDPE as indicated by the homogeneous morphology and the disappearance of the α transition peak of ORC in ORC/HDPE blends. Therefore, the tensile strength and elongation of ORC/HDPE blends are significantly higher than those of ORC/OBC blends. For ORC/OBC/HDPE ternary blends, we found that when ORC:OBC:HDPE are at a ratio of 70:15:15, cocrystallization is achieved. Although HDPE improves the compatibility of ORC and OBC, the three-phase structure of the ternary blends can be observed through SAXS when HDPE and OBC exceed 30 wt%. Blending HDPE and OBC (≤30 wt%) could improve the mechanical property of ORC.

Keywords: compatibility; crystallization behavior; ethylene–octene copolymer; mechanical properties; microstructure.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
DSC cooling (10 °C/min) thermograms (a,b) of pure ORC, pure OBC, pure HDPE, ORC/OBC blends and ORC/HDPE blends.
Figure 2
Figure 2
DSC the second heating (10 °C/min) thermograms (a,b) of pure ORC, pure OBC, pure HDPE, ORC/OBC blends and ORC/HDPE blends.
Figure 3
Figure 3
DSC cooling (10 °C/min) thermograms and the subsequent melting (10 °C/min) thermograms of pure ORC, pure OBC, pure HDPE, ORC/OBC blends, ORC/HDPE blends and ORC/OBC/HDPE blends: (a–c) cooling thermograms; (a’–c’) the subsequent melting thermograms.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The SEM images of cryo-fracture of pure samples: (a) pure ORC, (b) pure OBC, (c) pure HDPE.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The SEM images of cryo-fracture of the blends: (a) ORC/OBC10; (b) ORC/OBC30; (c) ORC/OBC50; (d) ORC/HDPE10; (e) ORC/HDPE30; (f) ORC/HDPE50; (g) ORC/OBC5/HDPE5; (h) ORC/OBC15/HDPE15; (i) ORC/OBC25/HDPE25.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Linear and Lorentz-corrected SAXS profiles of pure ORC, pure OBC, pure HDPE, ORC/OBC blends and ORC/HDPE blends. Liner SAXS profiles: (a) ORC/OBC, (b) ORC/HDPE; Lorentz-corrected SAXS profiles: (a’) ORC/OBC, (b’) ORC/HDPE.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Linear and Lorentz-corrected SAXS profiles of theblends under the different conditions: (a–c) liner SAXS profiles of pure ORC, pure OBC, pure HDPE, ORC/OBC blends, ORC/HDPE blends, ORC/OBC/HDPE blends; (a’–c’) Lorentz-corrected SAXS profiles of pure ORC, pure OBC, pure HDPE, ORC/OBC blends, ORC/HDPE blends, ORC/OBC/HDPE blends.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Storage modulus (a,b) and tan δ (a’,b’) of pure ORC, pure OBC, pure HDPE, ORC/OBC blends and ORC/HDPE blends.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Storage modulus (a–c) and tan δ (a’–c’) of pure ORC, pure OBC, pure HDPE, ORC/OBC blends, ORC/HDPE blends and ORC/OBC/HDPE blends under the different conditions.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Storage modulus (a–c) and tan δ (a’–c’) of pure ORC, pure OBC, pure HDPE, ORC/OBC blends, ORC/HDPE blends and ORC/OBC/HDPE blends under the different conditions.
Figure 10
Figure 10
The stress–strain curves (up to break) of (a) pure ORC, pure OBC, ORC/OBC blends; (b) pure ORC and ORC/HDPE blends; (c) ORC/OBC blends and ORC/OBC/HDPE blends.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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