Effect of morphology on brittle‐ductile transition of HPDE/CaCO3 blends

In this paper, the results of a series of investigations of the effect of morphology on the brittle‐ductile transition for HDPE/CaCO3 blends are summarized: (1) It seems the critical ligament thickness increases with increasing matrix toughness; (2) the interphase adhesion is very important for the toughness of HDPE/CaCO3 blends; (3) small particles are more effective than large ones; (4) CaCO3 particle aggregation will reduce toughening efficiency; (5) uniform CaCO3 particle size is more effective than heterogeneous size for the toughening of HDPE. It is expected that a polymer with higher modulus as well as higher toughness will be obtained by appropriately controlling the morphology of HDPE/CaCO3 blends.