Lifetime assessment of high-density polyethylene–silica nanocomposites

In this work, the effect of fumed silica on the long-term resistance of high-density polyethylene was investigated. Different amounts of functionalized fumed silica nanoparticles were dispersed in a high-density polyethylene matrix by melt compounding, and compression molded specimens were tested under tensile mode in the quasi-static ramp and creep conditions. In particular, tensile tests at different speeds and temperatures and the subsequent application of the modified Ree–Eyring model allowed the determination of an analytical expression correlating the strain rate with the yield stress and the testing temperature. It was demonstrated that the introduction of fumed silica led to a significant drop in the deformation rate, especially at elevated filler amounts. Creep tests showed that the nanofiller addition led to a progressive reduction of the critical deformation values. The application of this engineering approach evidenced how nanosilica introduction led to a systematic increase of the time-to-failure values, and good accordance between theoretical prediction and experimental measurements was found.