Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of high density polyethylene/graphene nanocomposites prepared by in-situ polymerization

• Prepared graphene reinforced high density polyethylene nanocomposites by in-situ polymerization.
• Different models based on non-isothermal crystallization kinetics showed incorporation of graphene in HDPE increases the crystallization onset temperature.
• Incorporation of graphene into HDPE significantly lowers the effective activation energy for crystallization.

High density polyethylene/graphene nanocomposites were synthesized via in-situ polymerization technique using metallocene catalyst and methylaluminoxane (MAO) as co-catalyst. The non-isothermal crystallization of the nanocomposites was studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Modified Avrami, Ozawa and the model proposed by Mo et al. were applied in the analysis. The activation energy (ΔE) was calculated using the iso-conversional method proposed by Vyazovkin. The effect of degree of transformation and temperature on ΔE was analyzed. It was found that graphene nucleates the crystallization of HDPE by lowering ΔE as well as increasing the crystallization onset temperature (Ton). However, at later stages of crystallization, excess amount of graphene hinder the crystal growth rate thereby retarding overall rate of crystallization, observed from increase of t1/2 and degree of super cooling.

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