Mechanical properties of recycled PVC blends with styrenic polymers

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The aim of this study is to improve the performance of blends made from recycled polyvinyl chloride (PVC), coming from credit card waste, so that these blends can be used for those applications that must fulfil some requirements with regard to mechanical properties and stability with temperature alterations. With this aim in mind, two polymers of styrenic origin have been combined: styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). These polymers are characterized by a satisfactory balance of mechanical properties and thermal stability. PVC blends with both virgin and recycled styrenic polymers have been studied throughout the entire range of compositions. The prior degradation of the recycled materials has been studied by means of Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).The behavior of the observed T g values has been analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the existence of partial miscibility between the different components has been studied. The mechanical properties have been determined using tensile and Charpy impact tests. The thermal stability of the PVC blends with temperature changes has been determined using the Vicat softening temperature (VST). Finally, the fracture surface of the various blends has been analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Recycling Polymer Blends

“…The combination with other polymers may enhance the performance of the secondary materials and allow industrial applications (Robeson 1984;Maiti et al 1992;Kulshreshtha 1993). SAN and ABS (virgin or recycled) were added to r-PVC exploring the whole composition range (Garcia et al 2006). Despite the degradation level of r-PVC was not relevant, the incorporation of styrenic polymers causes, as expectable, an improvement of the impact resistance when using ABS, while it is worse if SAN is added; see Fig.…”

Feedstock recycling of waste polymeric material

“…8). Garcia et al [129] investigated the properties of blends between PVC recyclate and virgin and recycled styrenic polymers, styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS). PVC-SAN blends showed improved resistant mechanical properties and reduced ductile properties, while PVC-ABS blends had improved ductility.…”

Characterization of fibers obtained from shredded tires

“…These techniques have been used by other authors for the analysis of diverse polymers. 2,3 As well as these techniques, pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) allowed us to identify other products, which may be present in the fibers-mainly additives.…”