Structure and Properties of Self-reinforced Material Made from Ultra-high Molecular Weight Polyethyl

High-strength and high-modulus ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene(UHMWPE), named self-reinforced material, was obtained by the elongation of UHMWPE-montmorillonite nanocomposite at melting temperature. According to the scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis, a great deal of fibrillar texture formed in the direction of elongation, and the tensile fractured surface was similar to that of highly oriented fiber. The transmission electron microscope (TEM) and selective area electron diffraction(SAED) analyses reveal that the reinforced phase of the self-reinforced material is an extended chain crystal and its size is about 50-200 nm wide and several microns long, and the montmorillonite layers are broken up to pieces in the size from 100 to 10 nm. The broken layers which have a huge surface area interacting strongly with macromolecules reduces the entanglement density of UHMWPE and induces the chain orientation in flow field. It is supposed that the astriction of montmorillonite layers to polyethylene chains is not only end-tethered but also side-tethered. The differential scan calorimetry(DSC) analysis shows that there are two endothermal peaks for the self-reinforced material, of which the peak at a higher temperature (136.4 ℃) is ascribed to the melting of the reinforced phase.