Industrial-Scale Polypropylene–Polyethylene Physical Alloying Toward Recycling

Abstract

Polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) play central roles in our daily life. However, their immiscibility presents a major hurdle in both industry and academia when recycling them into alloys with favorable mechanical properties. Moreover, typical compatibilizer-enabled approaches are limited due to increased environmental concerns. Herein, inspired by a traditional Chinese technique, we report a facile, industry-scale methodology that produces a PP/PE binary blend with a highly ordered honeycomb nanostructure without any additives. Due to its nanostructure, the blend exhibits enhanced tensile properties in comparison with the parent components or with a sample prepared using an internal mixer. This approach has potential for applications not only in immiscible polymer blending, but also in non-sorting, compatibilizer-free waste plastics recycling. Through this technique, we expect that an environmentally friendly and sustainable plastic wastes recycling avenue can be found, and great economic benefits can be gained.

Keywords

• Polypropylene
• Polyethylene
• Physical alloying
• Honeycomb structure