Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene blends with outstanding mechanical properties, wear resistance, and processability

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) has extremely outstanding mechanical properties and wear resistance, but its melt flowability is too poor, resulting in poor processability. In this work, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was melt-blended with UHMWPE to promote the flowability of UHMWPE melt. We investigated the effects of UHMWPE and HDPE contents on the rheological behavior, crystallization behavior, mechanical properties, and wear resistance of UHMWPE/HDPE blends. The results show that when the content ratio of UHMWPE and HDPE is 50:50, the UHMWPE/HDPE blend exhibits the best mechanical properties and wear resistance, as well as good processability. The tensile strength and elongation at break of 50UHMWPE/50HDPE are as high as 52.12 MPa and 700%, respectively, and the mass loss after erosion is only 0.04 g, which is far lower than the mass loss of pure HDPE (0.267g). Therefore, UHMWPE/HDPE blends with outstanding wear resistance and mechanical properties are expected to achieve large-scale industrial applications.