Mechanical performance of rotomoulded wollastonite-reinforced polyethylene composites

This paper describes the development of a new processing technology for rotational moulding of wollastonite microfibre (WE) reinforced polyethylene (PE). Manufacturing wollastonite-polyethylene composites involved blending, compounding by extrusion, and granulating prior to rotational moulding. The properties of the resulting composites were characterised by tensile and impact strength measurements. The results show that tensile strength increases monotonically with the addition of wollastonite fibres, but impact strength is decreased. In addition, the processability is also decreased after adding more than 12 vol% WE because of increased viscosity. The effects of a coupling agent, maleated polyethylene (MAPE), on the mechanical performance and processability were also investigated. SEM analysis reveals good adhesion between the fibre reinforcements and polyethylene matrix at the fracture surface with the addition of MAPE. It is proposed that fillers with small particles with high aspect ratio (such as wollastonite) provide a large interfacial area between the filler and the polymer matrix, and may influence the mobility of the molecular chains.