In situ rheo-SALS experiments on LDPE nanocomposites: a preliminary study

A preliminary study of Flow Induced Crystallization in LDPE nanocomposites containing a layered silicate nanofiller has been carried out by means of in situ Rheo-SALS technique. A good degree of exfoliation of the nanoclay into the polymer matrix was observed by TEM analysis. The first Rheo-SALS results clearly indicate that the application of mild flow conditions strongly enhances the crystallization kinetics, both in nanocomposite and reference LDPE samples. Moreover, in the sheared nanocomposite the polymer crystals are highly oriented, much more than in the reference sample, thus suggesting that the presence of small amounts of exfoliated nanoclay favours the orientation of chain segments along the flow direction. The analysis of the Hv scattering patterns allowed extracting basic quantitative information on crystallization kinetics and spherulitic morphology.