Upcycling opaque PET by reactive extrusion
This work was performed as a part of the project RevalPET UP, a project aiming to find new ways of recycling opaque polyethylene terephthalate waste (rPET-O) into a new primary material. Recently, white opaque PET has been used as a material for milk bottles in France. The bottles contain up to 15%...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis de maestría |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2021 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repositorio: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/345989 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/345989 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Politereftalat d'etilè PET Polietilè -- Reciclatge Polímers -- Reciclatge Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria dels materials |
| Sumario: | This work was performed as a part of the project RevalPET UP, a project aiming to find new ways of recycling opaque polyethylene terephthalate waste (rPET-O) into a new primary material. Recently, white opaque PET has been used as a material for milk bottles in France. The bottles contain up to 15% titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, protecting the milk from UV degradation and gas permeation into the bottle. However, the presence of this material disrupts the recycling flow as it removes the transparency should it be mixed with transparent PET as well as its mechanical properties being insufficient to become a new primary material on its own. Reactive extrusion with a chain extender agent can be used to improve the properties of this material. In this work, the reactive extrusion of rPET-O with the multifunctional epoxydic oligomer Joncryl ADR 4400 was investigated at 0, 1 and 1.5wt%. The rotation speed of the screws for the twin-screw extruder were also varied between 40rpm and 80rpm. It was found that the intrinsic viscosity increased the most for 1wt% addition of chain extender, while the rotation speed did not matter for this property. The melting temperature and crystallisation temperature was slightly decreased after reactive extrusion but did not change with Joncryl concentration nor with different screw rotation speeds. The complex viscosity and storage modulus were the highest for 1wt% Joncryl and a rotation speed of 40rpm, indicating that these conditions made the chain externder and the rPET-O react the most. The elongation at break increased the most with 1wt% addition of Joncryl, as the material gained the ability to strain harden after necking. The addition of 1.5wt% Joncryl chain extender made the material brittle. |
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