Polymer nanoparticles: their effect on rheological, thermal, and mechanical properties of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE)

Rheological, thermal, and mechanical properties of polymer particle/LLDPE blends were studied in this paper. The blends were prepared individually by incorporating nanoparticles of polystyrene (nPS) of similar to 60 nm and polymethyl methacrylate (nPMMA) of similar to 50 nm with different wt% loading (i.e., 0.10-0.5%). It was shown from the experimental results that rheological, thermal and mechanical properties were increased as polymer particles blended with LLDPE. Blends with 0.25 wt% loading of nPS and 0.5 wt% loading of nPMMA exhibited better rheological, thermal, and mechanical properties compared with that of other wt% loadings. The improvements in properties were due to the close packing of LLDPE chains as recorded by improvement in crystallinity of LLDPE with addition of nPS and nPMMA as shown by SEM. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.