Dynamic and transient rheological properties of glass filled polymer melts

The dynamic and transient rheological properties of a low density polyethylene melt and a plasticized polyvinylchloride melt filled with glass beads were measured at 200 °C and 180 °C respectively in a modified Weissenberg Rheogoniometer R-17. Its main modification consisted of the use of a piezoelectric transducer instead of the conventional torsion bar, and of the interfacing of a microcomputer Apple II plus to the Rheogoniometer for data acquisition and analysis. The glass beads were pretreated with silane and titanate coupling agents to observe the effect of the chemical modification of the polymer filler interface on these properties. It was observed that both the dynamic viscosity and the storage modulus increased with the weight fraction, but this last parameter did appreciably affect the stress growth and stress relaxation curves of the polymeric matrices at low shear rates. The effect of coupling agents on these properties was varied.