Effect of polymorphism of isotactic polybutene-1 on peel behavior of polyethylene/Polybutene-1 peel systems

The effect of polymorphism of isotactic polybutene-1 (iPB-1) on the peel behavior of the specific peel system low-density polyethylene/polybutene-1 (LDPE/iPB-1) was investigated using wide-angle X-ray scattering, calorimetry, and the T-peel test. Melt-crystallization of iPB-1, initially, yields tetragonal form II crystals which transform as a function of time to trigonal form I crystals. The kinetics of transformation at ambient temperature follows an exponential function, and is completed after about 50-75 h. The presence of LDPE in the peel system does not affect the transformation kinetics. The structure of the crystalline phase of iPB-1 controls the peel force which decreases by about 25% during the crystal-crystal transformation in a blend with 20 m% iPB-1. The reduction of the peel force depends linearly on the mass fraction of iPB-1 crystals in the peel system which further evidences the correlation between the crystal-crystal transformation of iPB-1 and the peel-characteristics of LDPE/iPB-1 blends. Isothermal reorganization of crystals of LDPE is excluded as reason for the change of the peel-performance of LDPE/iPB-1 blends, since it is 5 to 10 times faster than the decrease of the peel force, and crystal-crystal transformation of iPB-1, respectively. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.