SILANE GRAFTED POLYETHYLENE WITH A REDUCED LEVEL OF EXTRACTABLE METHANOL

摘要

A hydrophobic molecular sieve having a pore size of about 5Åcan be blended into a silane grafted crosslinkable polyethylene to reduce the level of extractable methanol present in articles made with such polymeric compositions after crosslinking. The molecular sieve apparently acts to“lock-up”the methanol generated as a by-product of the crosslinking reaction without compromising the desirable chemical or physical properties of articles that are manufactured with the crosslinked polyethylene.