Polyethylene toughened by CaCO3 particle: Brittle-ductile transition of CaCO3-toughened HDPE

The dependencies of the notched Izod impact toughness of HDPE / CaCO₃ blends on CaCO₃ particle concentration and particle size are analyzed. It was found that the notched Izod impact strength (S) of HDPE / CaCO₃ blends depends discontinuously on CaCO₃ particle concentration. A brittle-ductile transition occurs when the CaCO₃ volume fraction (V_f) increases to a critical value (Vη_f). Furthermore, a brittle-ductile transition master curve can be constructed by taking the matrix ligament thickness (L) into account as a parameter instead of V_f. The results show that the critical matrix ligament thickness (L_c) is a single parameter for the transition and L_c = 5.2μm for HDPE / CaCO₃ blends. The impact strength, however, varies considerably with CaCO₃ particle size, which shows that CaCO₃ particle size is another dominating parametor for the toughness of HDPE / CaCO₃ blends. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.