Electric field effect on mechanical properties of low density polyethylene

Abstract EN

Samples of two grades of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) were manufactured in situ and exposed to different doses of DC electric field intensity in the range 10M04 V/cm for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Ultrasonic Pulse-echo technique and tensile tests have been utilized to characterize the effect of electrical field intensity on the mechanical properties of these materials.

The yield strength and sonic modulus exhibit a minimum value of 102 V/cm.

Then they start to recover, whereas ductility decreases continuously with increasing field intensity.

This was attributed to the induced bond scission and subsequent cross-linking, which dominates at intensities greater than 10‘ V/cm.