Effect of blend and extrusion on breakdown for low-density polyethylene

There are many reports that the technique of polymer blending is a useful method to obtain a new insulating material. We have used two kinds of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with different densities, 0.9174 and 0.9180 g/cm/sup 3/ and their blends with different blend ratios. There are two XRD peaks due to the different crystallinity, [110] and [020] peaks, respectively. The crystal size estimated from the [020] peak depends upon the blend ratio. We assume that F/sub Blmp/ of LDPE with a blend ratio of 50 wt% is associated with the crystal size estimated from the [020] peak. We also prepare specimens with different mixture methods in order to investigate the relationship between morphology and blending in detail.