Effect of gamma irradiation on mechanical, thermal and rheological behavior of HDPE filled with seaweed residues

The present work shows the results obtained during the investigation of the influence of gamma irradiation on mechanical, thermal and rheological properties of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) filled with seaweed residues (SR). The SR used was located on Venezuelan coastlines and they are composed mainly by CaCO3 in aragonite phase. The HDPE was extruded along with the filler at different compositions (20, 30 and 40 wt.%). The composites were exposed to a 60Co source irradiated at 25 and 100 kGy. From the obtained results, it was noticed that Young modulus remained constant with filler content. Moreover, the influence of filler content was found to be more prominent on properties like tensile stress and elongation at break. On the other hand, thermal analysis showed that filler content had no significant influence on thermal stability. Still, it is necessary to point out that low radiation doses improved thermal stability of the composites. From rheological studies it was observed a decreasing of melt flow index (MFI) by increasing the SR amount and radiation. Therefore, was determinate that high filler content composites are the best choice to be considered for biomedical and industrial applications.