Preparation and properties of waste rubber powder/polypropylene grafting material blends

Abstract

Polypropylene grafted maleic anhydride copolymers with high strength and high melt flow rate were prepared by melt grafting method to improve the interfacial compatibility between polypropylene and waste rubber powder, and improve the mechanical properties and fluidity of waste rubber powder/polypropylene grafted copolymer blends. The results showed that with increase of the amount of waste rubber powder, the tensile properties of waste rubber powder/polypropylene grafted copolymer blends decreased, elongation at break and notched impact strength increased, melt flow rate decreased and fluidity became worse. Thermogravimetric analysis characterized that thermal stability of the blends increased and degradation rate decreased with increasing waste rubber powder amount. Rheological property test showed that when waste rubber powder amount was constant, with increase of the angular frequency, complex viscosity of the blends decreased, and loss modulus and storage modulus tended to increase. When the angular frequency was constant, the complex viscosity, storage modulus and loss modulus of the blends increased with increase of waste rubber powder amount. It could be seen from the section morphology of the blends that the more amount of waste rubber powder, the better compatibility of the blends. The tensile strength was more than 8.35 MPa, maximum elongation at break was 81%, melt flow rate was more than 2.74 g/10 min, and the maximum notched impact strength reached 15.6 kJ/m2.

Keywords

• waste rubber powder
• polypropylene
• grafting material
• blends
• mechanical property
• rheological property