Process induced morphology of irradiated HD-PE

Abstract

The preparation of cross-linked polyethylene with high energy electrons is a well-known and used method to change material properties [1-6]. A new developed technique called "Electron induced reactive processing" simultaneously combines polymer modification with high energy electrons and melt mixing processes [7-13]. In the case of polyethylene, this novel technique leads to exceptional mechanical properties. Definitely, these properties depend on the molecular architecture as well as the morphological characteristics of polyethylene after the electron treatment. In this work we concentrate on the morphological changes of high density polyethylene generated by using state of the art high energy electron treatment in the solid state compared with high density polyethylene modified with the electron induced reactive processing.