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The failure behavior of as-molded and annealed high density polyethylene(HDPE) was studied under impact load. The experimental results show that annealingincreased the impact fracture energy of HDPE. It was also found that the rise in thepropagation energy was responsible for the increased fracture energy of the annealedspecimens. Tension tests on as molded and annealed samples show the generation of voidswhen the material ahead of the notch yielded under tension. This led to the formation of fibrousstructures that absorb more energy resulted in increased fracture energy in annealed specimensas compared to that of as-molded specimens.