Thermal and shrinkage behaviour of stretched peroxide-crosslinked high-density polyethylene

The thermal shrinkage of stretched crosslinked high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was investigated with the aim to produce heat shrinkable materials. The heat shrinkable property was achieved by a process of heating–stretching–cooling by aid of tensile machine on crosslinked HDPE obtained by compounding with various amount of peroxide. Effect of stretching ratio and stretching temperature on thermal and shrinkage behaviour at varying peroxide contents was investigated. The results showed that crosslinking hindered the crystallization process by decreasing the melting and crystallization temperatures as well as the total degree of crystallinity. The stretching ratio had no significant effect on shrink temperature but rather on ultimate shrinkage. The stretching temperature had relatively significant influence on the shrink temperature. Crosslinked HDPE stretched at above melting point (140 °C) had higher shrink temperature as compared to those stretched at lower temperature (90 °C). These effects could be reasonably explained by Hoffman theory and changes in crystallites size and total amount of crystallinity.