The Effect of Acrylic Acid on Tensile and Morphology Properties of Wollastonite Filled High Density Polyethylene/Natural Rubber Composites

Inorganic filler manufactured for incorporation into thermoplastic elastomers usually are surface treated with organic reagents in order to improve the interfacial adhesion between filler and the matrix. In the present paper, the effects of acrylic acid (AA) on tensile and morphology properties of wollastonite (WS) filled high density polyethylene (HDPE)/Natural Rubber (NR) composites were studied. The untreated and treated HDPE/NR/WS composites were melt-blending at 180 °C with rotor speed of 50 rpm for 10 minutes. The composites were tensile-tested according to ASTM D638 and the etched surfaces were observed using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Tensile strength and elongation at break of the compositesdecreased upon the addition of wollastonite, but Young's modulus improves. The results of this study showed that the treated composites are found to have better tensile properties than the untreated composites. The morphology of treated composite showed better interfacial interaction between HDPE/NR and wollastonite.