Effect of antistatic additives on mechanical and electrical properties of polyethylene foams

Abstract Polyethylene foams with different antistatic additives (Atmer 7325, Atmer 7105, and Atmer 190) were prepared by extrusion and stored during 6 months of time span in a real life environment. The antistatic performance was evaluated by measuring the surface resistivity and throughout decay‐time experiments. Mechanical properties and migration tests were also performed. It was found that the migration of antistatic agents is in general low enough, which allows to maintain the antistatic performance for periods of time larger than 6 months. The tests revealed that the desired low surface resistance and required low static decay time could be achieved with all the antistatic agents under test. Moreover, the additives with amina (Atmer 7105 and 7325) as an active agent showed slightly better antistatic performance than the one with the ionic agent (Atmer 190). The addition of an antistatic agent does not significantly affect the mechanical behavior of the foam indicating a desired feature concerning industrial applications. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009