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The incorporation of metal oxide particles into polymer matrix in many cases leads to improved characteristics of the material: thermal stability, mechanical strength, light absorbing or antibacterial properties etc.This study aims to develop polyethylene/hematite composites prepared with hematite (α-Fe2O3) particles of different size. Such types of composites have not been yet thoroughly studied but have a potential to reveal improved properties in comparison to the pure polymer. Polyethylene is a material with a broad field of application, primarily as packaging material for food and other products. Hematite is non-toxic, thermally and chemically stable low-cost metal oxide. There is also a demanding task to prepare composites with non-aggregated hematite particles and their fine dispersion in polyethylene matrix.In this work two types of hematite with well-defined shape and uniform size were used for preparation of the composites: hematite HC1 with cubic particles of average size of 2 μm and HS2 with spherical particles sized of about 100 nm. The mass fraction of hematite in the composites was 0.25, 0.5 and 1 %. Prepared polyethylene/hematite composites were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and diffuse reflectance UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy. The mechanical properties were also studied. The results show that such composites have improved properties in comparison to a pure polyethylene, especially the composites with hematite HS2 due to its particles of lower size and large surface. Obtained results reveal that such composites may be a promising material for wide range of applications.
Keywords: Composites, polyethylene, hematite, thermal stability, UV blocking© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.