THE EFFECT OF POLYETHYLENE CATALYST TYPE AND PIGMENT CONCENTRATION ON CRYSTAL GROWTH DURING ROTOMOULDING

摘要

This work studied the effect of catalyst type and pigment concentration on the impact properties, crystallinity and morphology of rotationally moulded polyethylene (PE) parts. Microscopy, shrinkage and differential scanning calorimetry analysis techniques were used. It was observed that the base PE catalyst had an effect on the extent of crystallinity but that the level of pigmentation had only limited effect on the extent of crystallinity. The reduction in impact performance for turboblended pigmented samples was due to the relatively poor distributive and dispersive mixing of the pigment within the polymer matrix.