{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T16:37:07Z","timestamp":1790959027047,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,22]],"date-time":"2021-03-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1616371200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Additive manufacturing, civil, and biomechanical applications are among the most important sectors, where the filler\u2019s presence can significantly improve the quality of polymeric products blends. The high market demand of new low-cost material to be used as shock absorbers and mechanical joints arouses our curiosity to study a relatively common commercial polymer and filler. The possible improvement by blending high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and graphite was investigated for these sectors. To achieve this objective, we have prepared HDPE\/graphite nanocomposites following mechanical treatment to understand which parameter provides the researched properties. As widely reported in the literature, milling treatment leads to the decrease of the particle size and the exfoliation of graphitic layers. Therefore, graphite has been previously treated with a ball mill for different times (1\u201316 h) to enhance its lubricating action. We checked an improvement in stiffness, yielding strength, thermal stability, and, in particularly, wear resistance that increased by 65% with respect to that of polyethylene (PE). A treatment time of eight hours in ball milling could be enough to give an appreciable improvement. The wear behavior of HDPE with treated graphite has not been deeply investigated so far, and it could be important because HDPE is considered a \u201ccarrier polymer\u201d for different low-friction applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym13060975","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,22]],"date-time":"2021-03-22T12:55:07Z","timestamp":1616417707000},"page":"975","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Mechanical, Wear and Thermal Behavior of Polyethylene Blended with Graphite Treated in Ball Milling"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1602-9361","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Annamaria","family":"Visco","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, University of Messina, Contrada Di Dio, I-98166 Messina, Italy"},{"name":"Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials-CNR IPCB, Via Paolo Gaifami 18, 95126 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8729-2648","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Antonio","family":"Grasso","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, University of Messina, Contrada Di Dio, I-98166 Messina, Italy"},{"name":"Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials-CNR IPCB, Via Paolo Gaifami 18, 95126 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5451-9954","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giuseppe","family":"Recca","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials-CNR IPCB, Via Paolo Gaifami 18, 95126 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4349-0113","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Domenico Carmelo","family":"Carbone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials-CNR IPCB, Via Paolo Gaifami 18, 95126 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9298-944X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandro","family":"Pistone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, University of Messina, Contrada Di Dio, I-98166 Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"465","DOI":"10.1016\/S0141-3910(00)00039-2","article-title":"Comparison of formation of oxidation products during photo-oxidation of linear low density polyethylene under different natural and accelerated weathering conditions","volume":"68","author":"Tidjani","year":"2000","journal-title":"Polym. 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