The effect of processing conditions on the durability of polymer products. (15th February 2010) - Florjancic, Urska
The work discusses new possibilities of modifying the functionality of polymer products by changing their material structure during processing and consequently the time-dependent properties which define the durability of the final product. The research addresses two questions: 1) does current industrial-scale polymer processing equipment allow processing in conditions which enhance the nonlinear processes during structure formation; 2) what is the magnitude of the structural changes and what, consequently, are the time-dependent mechanical and other physical properties of the final polymer product which can be achieved by changing processing conditions in the industrial environment? By analysing the low density polyethylene (LDPE) extrudates produced with a laboratory extruder PolyLab OS, which simulates real industrial processing conditions, we observed that changing the processing conditions in the industrial environment improves the durability (time-dependency) of extrudates by several orders of magnitude. This opens new possibilities in the field of modifying the functionality of polymer products, and hence, better competitiveness on the world market.