Thermo-mechanical properties of LLDPE/SiO2 nanocomposites

Two series of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE)/SiO2 nanocomposites were prepared. They were based on two types of commercial LLDPE, one prepared by metallocene (mLLDPE) and the other by traditional Ziegler-Natta (zLLDPE) catalysts, and silica nanoparticles surface treated with dimethyldichlorosilane. The silica nanonparticles used have an average diameter of 16 nm, and their weight fraction varied from 2 up to 10%. The structure and thermal-mechanical features of the nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical spectroscopy (DMA) as well as tensile tests. The effect of nanoparticles on crystallinity, and hence to the morphology of the materials was studied. The secondary transitions were also affected by the filler presence, while the tensile properties were reinforced with varying the nanoparticle weight fraction. The addition of the nanofillers brought up an increase in the elastic modulus and the tensile strength of mLLDPE accompanied by an unusual dramatic increase in the elongation at break. The same trend, although to a lesser extent, was observed for the zLLDPE/SiO2 composites. The increment of the elastic modulus of the composites with increasing filler content was simulated with three micromechanical models developed in previous works. The model which assumes an effective interface between the matrix and the nanoparticles provided the best fitting with the experimental data of mLLDPE/SiO2.