An investigation of polyethylene composites containing silica sol-gel building-blocks

Controlling the interface has always been a challenge when designing a new type of nanocomposite. In this work, an innovative approach is proposed. It starts with depositing a 60-nm thick silica layer on a PE substrate, using a sol-gel method. This layered object is further covered by thermally pressing over it a sheet of PE. The thus obtained composite is indented into small building blocks which have the advantage of possessing each a controlled interface. The building blocks are then used to thermally press samples of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with ultra-low content of nanostructured additives. Only after completing a thorough investigation, it was possible to state that the neat and the composite materials behaved more or less the same. This is explained by the very low resulting content of silica, i.e. 0.02 wt% in the composite, defining it as having a very low-degree of self-assembly. However, the constructing approach has a great potential if used with a nanometric extra-ordinary filler deposited at the interface of the building block.