Metal-containing nanocomposites based on a mixture of high- and low-pressure polyethylene

The influence of nanofillers additives containing zirconium-oxide nanoparticles on the structural characteristics and properties of zirconiumcontaining nanocomposites based on a blend of high-pressure(low-density) and low-pressure(high-density) polyethylene was studied using differential thermal analysis (DTA) and scan electron microscopy (SEM) methods.It was found that the addition of 0.5 wt.% nanofillers causes an increase in the mechanical strength limit from 16.69 to 20.95MPa and the magnitude of the relative elongation at break of the nanocomposite by 1.93 times, which is associated with the synergistic effect of the interphase interaction of zirconium-oxide nanoparticles with the components of the polymer matrix while at the same time an increase in the mechanical strength limit and relative elongation during deformation.It has been shown that resulting nanocomposites, including additives of finely dispersed zirconium oxide, can be obtained by pressing and injection and extrusion methods, which expands their application areas.When studying the thermal stability of the studied samples it was found that the addition of nanofiller with containing zirconium oxide nanoparticles into the composition of blended polyethylenesincreases the decomposition temperature of the studied samples, and the activation energy (Ea) during thermal-oxidative destruction of the resulting nanocomposite increases from 232.96 to 282.51 kJ/mol.A small dose of nanofiller incorporated into the mixture acts as an unnatural crystal former, which causes the formation of a fine-spherulite structure in the polymer, thus enhancing the properties of nanocomposite