The effect of crosslinking and thermal ageing on the morphology of ethylene-vinyltrimethoxysilane copolymer

Abstract

This paper investigates the behavior and property evolution of silane crosslinked polyethylene upon thermal ageing in oven at two different temperatures. It was investigated the influence of crosslinking catalyst, thermal stabilizer and temperature on the chemical structure, morphology by differential scanning calorimetry and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It was found that two parallel processes influence the final properties: crosslinking reactions and improvement of crystalline order. These two processes play different role depending either an ageing proceed below melting temperature or above melting temperature.