Influence of HMW tail chains on the structural evolution of HDPE induced by second melt penetration

It is widely accepted that the role of the high molecular weight (HMW) component is cooperative in shear-induced crystallization, owing to entanglements among long chains. However, this paper demonstrates that the HMW component has a novel effect on structural evolution during the process of multi-melt multi-injection molding (M³IM), organized as follows. First, the appropriate HDPE system with an incremental concentration of HMW tails was established. Second, the crystalline morphologies and orientation behaviors of the M³IM samples were characterized using a combination of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and two-dimensional small angle X-ray scattering (2D-SAXS), and these suggested that the amount of shish-kebabs was not monotonically promoted with an increasing content of HMW tails but tended to reduce at a certain value. Third, in order to explain this phenomenon, the special temperature and shear profiles of M³IM were depicted subsequently, and finally the mechanism of hierarchical structure formation with the influence of various amounts of HMW tail chains was discussed, based on the classical rheological viewpoint.