Thermal processing, morphology and electrical strength of polyethylene

The paper reports on experiments which examined the effects of thermal processing treatments (crystallisation temperature, annealing temperature and annealing time) on the morphology and electrical strength of low density polyethylene (LDPE). An evaluation of the effect of prolonged annealing of LDPE at practically relevant temperatures has shown little effect on the morphology of banded spherulites, although under certain thermal processing conditions, aggregates of large lamellae were produced. However, there was no evidence to suggest that the structural changes that result from the imposed thermal histories is detrimental to the electrical properties of the LDPE.