Morphology and dynamic mechanical properties of glass beads filled low density polyethylene composites

The dynamic mechanical properties of glass bead filled low density polyethylene (LDPE) composites have been investigated using a dynamic mechanical analyzer. With the addition of the glass bead volume fraction (phi(f)), the relative storage modulus and the relative loss modulus increase non-linearly at 25 degrees C, but the damping reaction is opposite to this. The effects of the glass bead size on the dynamic modulus are insignificant except for individual data points. When the weight fraction (phi) of the glass beads is 10%, the values of the glass transition temperature for the composites are greatly reduced. The dynamic moduli of the filled system, for which the surface of the glass beads was pretreated with a silane coupling agent, is greater than that of the one in which the glass beads are untreated. In addition, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been used to study the interfacial adhesion between the inclusions and the matrix, as well as the particle distribution in the matrix. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.