Chlorinated polyethylene modification of blends derived from waste plastics Part I: Mechanical behavior

Abstract

Recycling of waste plastics as a blend of generic types is attractive since a difficult separations problem is avoided. However, blends of incompatible polymers are frequently very brittle and cannot be considered for many applications. Additives which modify the blend to give it ductility may provide a solution to this problem. Chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) made by a slurry process has been suggested for this application by Schramm and Blanchard. Further documentation of the effectiveness of this approach is given here. Addition of CPE to such a blend generally increases the elongation at break and the energy to break very dramatically with ordinarily some loss in strength and modulus. This approach works most effectively in blends of high polyethylene and poly(vinyl chloride) content. Three grades of CPE were studied here which revealed that the specific structure of the CPE molecule is a factor. The effectiveness of CPE for blend modification is believed to derive from the graded molecular structure acquired during chlorination.

Dynamic mechanical and thermal properties of physically compatibilized natural rubber/poly(methyl methacrylate) blends by the addition of natural rubber-graft- poly(methyl methacrylate)

“…Numerous studies have been reported on the morphology and properties of compatibilized binary blends. [25][26][27] Addition of copolymer is reported to improve the interfacial adhesion and the mechanical properties.…”

A Brief Review of Polymer Blend Technology

“…The physical affinity of the A portion of the copolymer for the A phase and the Β portion for the Β phase serves to locate the copolymer at the interface and to connect physically the two phases through the covalent bonds in the copolymer backbone. The net result of this improved adhesion in a variety of systems is a great improvement in the ultimate mechanical properties, elongation, and tensile strength, and a finer dispersion of the minor component (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19).…”

Compatibilizers for recycling of the plastic mixture wastes. II. The effect of a compatibilizer for binary blends on the properties of ternary blends

“…For example, chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) has been investigated as a compatibilizer for HDPE and PVC pairs. 10,14 Styreneethylene-propylene block copolymer (SEP) and ethylene-propylene rubber (EPR) have been used for HDPE/PS 11 and HDPE/PP blends, 12,13 respectively. The compatibilizing effect of such a compatibilizer has been known to be attributable to the enhanced interfacial adhesion between two component polymers, because the compatibilizer usually possesses the units of the parent polymers.…”