Correlation between interfacial interactions and internal stresses in filled high density polyethylene

The stress relaxation and the creep behaviour of high density polyethylene (HDPE) filled with glass fibres, clay (plate-like particles) or CaCO₃ (particles with irregular shape) were measured in uniaxial extension at room temperature. It was observed that the addition of filler increased the internal stress level, as evaluated from stress relaxation data. This increase was larger than the corresponding increase in the (short-term) elastic modulus. This behaviour may be attributed to a reduced macromolecular mobility in the matrix material close to the filler surface, i.e. to formation of an interphase region in the HDPE-matrix. From the internal stress values, the thickness of this interphase region around each filler particle was estimated, assuming a uniform coverage of the particles. It was suggested that the amount of matrix material with reduced mobility (or the thickness of the interphase region) reflected the degree of adhesion between the filler and HDPE. The change in the internal stress level due to the incorporation of different fillers, which were surface treated in some cases, was also consistent with the observed creep behaviour.