Polymer, Vol.40, No.24, 6859-6864, 1999
Characterization of UHMWPE sol-gel transition by parallel plate rheometer and pulsed NMR
The gel point and characterization of sol-gel transition of UHMWPE/decalin systems were investigated. In this study rheological method and DSC method were used to measure the gel point of UHMWPE gel at various concentrations. The result showed that the gel point increased with increasing gel concentration. Meanwhile pulsed NMR was also utilized to investigate 6 wt% UHMWPE gel. It was found that when sol-gel transition temperature was approximately 100 degrees C, large amount of UHMWPE gel turned into solution state. Therefore, it produced re-entanglement and increased the random region within the UHMWPE molecular chain, which led to the decrease of interaction force among the polymer.