Structure and Properties of Reactively Extruded Opaque Post-Consumer Recycled PET
The recyclability of opaque PET, which contains TiO2 nanoparticles, has not been as well-studied as that of transparent PET. The objective of this work is to recycle post-consumer opaque PET through reactive extrusion with Joncryl. The effect of the reactive extrusion process on the molecular struct...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2021 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad del País Vasco |
| Repositorio: | Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/53698 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10810/53698 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | recycled opaque PET reactive extrusion chain extension long-chain branching |
| Sumario: | The recyclability of opaque PET, which contains TiO2 nanoparticles, has not been as well-studied as that of transparent PET. The objective of this work is to recycle post-consumer opaque PET through reactive extrusion with Joncryl. The effect of the reactive extrusion process on the molecular structure and on the thermal/mechanical/rheological properties of recycling post-consumer opaque PET (r-PET) has been analyzed. A 1% w/w Joncryl addition caused a moderate increase in the molecular weight. A moderate increase in chain length could not explain a decrease in the overall crystallization rate. This result is probably due to the presence of branches interrupting the crystallizable sequences in reactive extruded r-PET (REX-r-PET). A rheological investigation performed by SAOS/LAOS/elongational studies detected important structural modifications in REX-r-PET with respect to linear r-PET or a reference virgin PET. REX-r-PET is characterized by a slow relaxation process with enlarged elastic behaviors that are characteristic of a long-chain branched material. The mechanical properties of REX-r-PET increased because of the addition of the chain extender without a significant loss of elongation at the break. The reactive extrusion process is a suitable way to recycle opaque PET into a material with enhanced rheological properties (thanks to the production of a chain extension and long-chain branches) with mechanical properties that are comparable to those of a typical virgin PET sample. |
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