Controlling the Properties of HDPE in the Presence
of Low-Molecular-Mass Additives of Various Types

I. N. Meshkova, V. G. Krasheninnikov, V. A. Optov, Yu. A. Gavrilov, E. N. Silkina, and I. V.
Pletneva

Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Kosygina 4, Moscow, 119991 Russia

e-mail: meshkova.in@yandex.ru

Received December 11, 2013;
Revised Manuscript Received March 12, 2014

Abstract—To develop materials with new mechanical and improved rheological properties on the basis of
common polyolefins, ultrahigh-molecular-weight PE and HDPE of medium molecular masses, the polymers
have been modified with low-molecular-mass additives: crystalline organic disulfides (dithiaalkanes), liquid
oligomer phenylmethylsiloxane, and oligooxypropylene glycol. It has been shown that the studied disulfide
additives at low concentrations (up to 10% of the mass of PE) have no significant effect on the content and qual-
ity of the crystalline phase of HDPE. (The degree of crystallinity, enthalpy, and melting temperature change
weakly.) In this case the plasticity of the modified PE improves: the tensile modulus and dynamic modulus
decrease, whereas the elongation at break increases. In the presence of organic disulfides, the effective viscosity
of the PE melt decreases. Unlike oligomeric phenylmethylsiloxane and oligooxypropylene glycol, dithiaal-
kanes are inert to the components of metallocomplex catalysts. Thus, the modification of PE with the aforemen-
tioned additives may be performed via their addition to the final polymer or in the course of the synthesis of the
polymer.

DOI: 10.1134/S0965545X14050125

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