Preparation of high-performance polyethylene tubes under the coexistence of silicone cross-linked polyethylene and rotation extrusion

In this study, the silicone cross-linked polyethylene (Si-XLPE) powder with better thermoplastic performance and abundant cross-linked network points was attained by using solid-state shear mechanochemical (S3M) technology and it was added into high-density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix to prepare Si-XLPE/HDPE tubes by a rotation extrusion rheometer. SEM and 2D-SAXS experiments showed that the presence of Si-XLPE and rotation extrusion facilitated the formation of stable shish-kebabs which deviated from the axial direction in polyethylene (PE) tubes. This result was interpreted that introduction of Si-XLPE in PE tubes provided abundant molecular cross-linked network structures, which suppressed the thermal movement and relaxation of oriented molecular chains owing to intermolecular interaction. Moreover, the axial and hoop flow field further promoted orientation of the permanent cross-linked network entanglement points and formation of more stable cluster-like shish structures in the off-axial direction during the rotation extrusion process. Besides, our experimental results had also ascertained that molecular orientation and shish-kebabs in off-axial direction should be the primary responsibility for the remarkable enhancement of hoop torsional strength in PE tubes. Hoop torsional strength of PE tubes adding Si-XLPE reached 19.58 MPa when the mandrel rotation rate was 30 r.p.m., while that of conventional extruded PE tubes was only 9.83 MPa. As a consequence, PE tubes with excellent performance were prepared under the combined effect of Si-XLPE and rotation extrusion.