Adhesion of grafted polyethylene to an ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymer

Abstract Modern developments in polymer technology include the use of multimaterials. Two or more polymers are fashioned together to produce a composite with a desired combination of properties. However, the success of such materials depends on the quality of the adhesion between the various phases. In this study, we considered the adhesion between a grafted polyethylene and an ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymer with various peel test geometries. The principal, L‐peel, test was employed with various peel angles. Using elastoplastic analysis, we found that the effective peel energy, increasing with the peel angle, may be corrected for bulk energy dissipation, leading to a relatively constant local value for intrinsic peel resistance, independent of geometry. Effects of the peel rate and temperature may be combined to give a master curve, apparently a novelty for thermoplastics, although well known for elastomers. At a (corrected) peel rate, a jump in adhesion energy, apparently related to a change to a stick–slip peel regime, was observed. This jump appeared to be absent for some other peel geometries. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 39: 2843–2851, 2001