Study on high weld strength of impact propylene copolymer/high density polyethylene laminates

The impact propylene copolymer (IPC) and isotactic polypropylene (iPP) were separately selected to prepare laminates with high density polyethylene (HDPE) by hot press. The peel forces of IPC/HDPE and iPP/HDPE laminates were examined, and it was found that the welded joint strength in IPC/HDPE laminate was dramatically higher than that of iPP/HDPE laminate. According to the special microstructure of IPC, the co-crystallization of the ethylene segments in ethylene-propylene block copolymer (EbP) component of IPC and the PE chain in HDPE was proposed to explain the highstrength welding. The DSC results indicated that there indeed existed some interaction between IPC and HDPE, and the crystallizable PE component in IPC could affect the crystallization of HDPE. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations of IPC/HDPE blends demonstrated that HDPE tended to stay with the PE-rich EbP chains to form the dispersed phase, indicating the good miscibility between HDPE and EbP components of IPC. According to the above results, the effect of co-crystallization of the PE components of the IPC and HDPE on the high weld strength of IPC/HDPE laminate was confirmed.