Study of blends from recycled polymer for properties improvement

Abstract

Polypropylene (PP) presents low impact resistance at low temperatures and easily undergoes thermal degradation. On the other hand, polyethylene terephtalate (PET) is very hygroscopic. One way to overcome these weaknesses is to blend both polymers trying to reach a good interaction through the insertion of polar functional groups within the PP backbone chain. In this study, recycled PP was grafted with maleic anhydride (AM), and the insertion was quantified by measuring carbonyl index with a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR). Rheometer blends were prepared using recycled PP (grafted and ungrafted) with recycled PET and their compatibility was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). Other properties such as hardness and water absorption were also measured. It was concluded that grafting recycled PP made it more compatible with recycled PET.

Keywords

• PP
• PET
• maleic anhydride (AM)
• grafting
• polymer blends