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Recycling PET beverage bottles and improving properties
Author(s) -
Oromiehie Abdulrasoul,
Mamizadeh Alireza
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
polymer international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-0126
pISSN - 0959-8103
DOI - 10.1002/pi.1389
Subject(s) - materials science , polypropylene , maleic anhydride , polyethylene terephthalate , crystallinity , extrusion , composite material , degradation (telecommunications) , reactive extrusion , ethylene , chemical engineering , polymer , organic chemistry , chemistry , copolymer , telecommunications , catalysis , computer science , engineering
Recycling PET from bottles has been carried out by three different extrusion methods. Under optimized processing conditions, a virgin poly(ethylene terephthalate (PET), recycled PET and a mixture of virgin and recycled PET, with and without the modifier polypropylene functionalized with maleic anhydride [PP‐ graft ‐MA]), were processed. Different methods were used to characterize the processed products. The results showed that the intrinsic viscosity and molecular weight decreased as the blend ratio of recycled PET was increased. This was due to thermal exposure as well as shear degradation of recycled PET. Thermal cycles of the processes used for recycling PET and its blending specimens with virgin PET show the importance of the thermal treatment in the improvement of mechanical strength and increased crystallinity. Nevertheless, the properties of the functionalized blends were improved. This behaviour is attributed to a series of chemical and physico‐chemical interactions taking place between the two components. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry