The confined crystallization behavior of low molecular weight polyethylene (PE) was investigated by the inclusion of nano-sized silica (SiO2) with different surface properties. It was found that increasing interfacial interaction between polymer and nano-particles results in suppression of crystallization and chain mobility of PE, while the filler network formed in PE/SiO2 nanocomposites shows no dependence on the surface properties of SiO2. This means the particle–particle interactions play a dominant role in determining the construction of the connected network when the polymer–nanoparticle interactions are in the order of van der Waals. A turning point in the crystallization capacity of PE/SiO2 nanocomposites is induced by the three-dimensional percolated structure, mainly resulting from the drastic confinement of chain mobility.

Interfacial effect on crystallization behavior of polyethylene/silica composites

255th National Meeting (2018)

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