**4.3.2 Young's modulus**

The relative Young's modulus (E/E0) is demonstrated in Figure 9b. Once again the results are excellent. The E can be maintained at high levels even at high loadings of TPS36 and TPS40. At lower levels of glycerol (TPS29) the E of the blend can be seen to even exceed that of the neat polyethylene. These are unusual results considering the high levels of immiscibility between PE and TPS. The results also indicate the potential of tailoring the mechanical properties of the blend through an appropriate glycerol content. This unexpected result can be explained by good interfacial contact. Leclair and Favis found that the compression exerted by a crystalline matrix (HDPE), during crystallization, on an amorphous dispersed phase (PC) can result in good interfacial contact and a higher elastic modulus (Leclair and Favis, 1996). They also observed that this effect had a positive influence on the modulus only when the contraction took place on a smooth, nondeformable surface.

### **4.4 Connectivity of TPS particles**
