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Updated: Jun 28, 2025

Characteristics of Precipitation-formed Polyethylene Glycol Microgels Are Controlled by Molecular Weight of Reactants
Published on: December 23, 2013
The Effect of Processing Conditions on the Microstructure of Homopolymer High-Density Polyethylene Blends: A
Fulvia Cravero1,2, Nicola Cavallini3, Rossella Arrigo1,2
1Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Viale Teresa Michel 5, 15121 Alessandria, Italy.
Abstract:
In this work, a multivariate approach was utilized for gaining some insights into the processing-structure-properties relationships in polyethylene-based blends. In particular, two high-density polyethylenes (HDPEs) with different molecular weights were melt-compounded using a twin-screw extruder, and the effects of the screw speed, processing temperature and composition on the microstructure of the blends were evaluated based on a Design of Experiment-multilinear regression (DoE-MLR) approach. The results of the thermal characterization, interpreted trough the MLR (multilinear regression) response surfaces, demonstrated that the composition of the blends and the screw rotation speed are the two most important parameters in determining the crystallinity of the materials. Furthermore, the rheological data were examined using a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) multivariate approach, highlighting also in this case the most prominent effect of the weight ratio of the two base polymers and the screw rotation speed.
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