Remarkably enhanced thermal stability of an irradiation-crosslinked ethylene–octene copolymer by incorporation of a novel organic/inorganic hybrid nano-sensitizer

• A novel organic/inorganic hybrid nano-sensitizer is proposed.
• The sensitizer was facilely prepared by the coupling activation modification.
• Radiation induced crosslinking of POE was enhanced by the nano-sensitizer.
• The thermal deformation resistance of irradiated nanocomposites was enhanced.
• The tensile strength of irradiated nanocomposites was improved

We report a novel method to improve the anti-thermal-deformation performance of an ethylene–octene copolymer (POE) using vinyl functionalized silica nanoparticles (M-SiO2) as a sensitizer to enhance radiation-induced crosslinking. The M-SiO2 nanoparticles were prepared by coupling commercially available silica nanoparticles with KH570 (γ-methacryloxypropyl-trimethoxysilane, γ-MPS) and were blended with POE by melt blending. Then, the mixture was irradiated with γ-rays under a nitrogen atmosphere to form the crosslinked POE/M-SiO2 nanocomposite. The novel nanocomposites were characterized, and the results showed that the gel fraction was proportional to the content of M-SiO2 in the loading range studied in this work. When the content of M-SiO2 was 10 wt%, the gel fraction of POE was increased by approximately 50%, and the softening temperature (T0.5D) increased from 104.4 °C to 224.6 °C after a 120 kGy dose of radiation. The tensile strength of the POE/M-SiO2-10 nanocomposite was better than that of the neat POE copolymer irradiated with an absorption dose up to 100 kGy. In contrast, the elongation of the POE/M-SiO2-10 nanocomposite was lower than that of the neat POE irradiated under the same conditions, due to the increased degree of crosslinking by radiation. These results clearly demonstrated that the use of M-SiO2 as an irradiation sensitizer effectively enhanced the radiation-induced crosslinking of POE.