Influence of crosslinking on physical properties of low density polyethylene

Influence of crosslinking on physical properties of low density polyethylene was studied.The results indicated that, at low degrees of crosslinking, the network hardly affects the crystallinity, elastic modulus (E) and yielding stress while it improves the tensile strength and strain at break simultaneously. Tensile strength reaches a maximum of about 24 MPa at 1.5 phr dicumyl peroxide (DCP) then decreases to a constant value of about 18 MPa due to decrease of crystallinity. E reaches its maximum at 0.5 phr DCP corresponding to gel fraction of about 75% without marked change in crystallinity. The crosslinked polyethylene exhibits two yielding processes, and both yielding stresses approximately linearly depend on crystallinity.