Rheological behavior of composites made from linear medium-density polyethylene and hemp fibers treated by surface-initiated catalytic polymerization

This work presents different rheological methods to determine the effect of fiber surface treatment on their interaction with a polymer matrix. In particular, surface-initiated catalytic polymerization was investigated on hemp fibers to improve their adhesion with linear medium-density polyethylene (LMDPE). The selected rheological tests (creep-recovery (solid state), small and large amplitude oscillation shear, and transient rheology (melt state)) were used to compare the treated and untreated fiber composites with the neat matrix. The results showed a significant improvement of the treated hemp composite (LPHC) creep modulus with respect to its untreated counterpart (LNHC) leading to a reduction of the creep strain, especially as temperature increases. The transient viscosity was modeled using a modified Kohlrausch-Williams-Watt (KWW) equation showing an increase in the transient viscosity (\( {\eta}_0^{+} \)) and relaxation time (τ) with fiber addition and surface treatment. These results were confirmed by large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) through the reduction of the relative third harmonic (I_3/1), intrinsic nonlinearity parameter (Q₀), and nonlinear viscoelastic ratio (NRL). The results clearly show that catalytic polymerization is a good surface modification technique to increase the compatibility between natural fibers and polymer matrices as to improve all their final properties.