Preparation and properties of recycled HDPE/clay hybrids

Abstract

Hybrids based on recycled high density polyethylene (RHDPE) and organic clay were made by melt compounding. The influence of blending method, compatibilizers, and clay content on clay intercalation and exfoliation, RHDPE crystallization behavior, and the mechanical properties of RHDPE/clay hybrids were investigated. Both maleated polyethylene (MAPE) and titanate could improve the compatibilization of RHDPE and clay. RHDPE/clay hybrids containing completely exfoliated clay were obtained using a two-step blending method. Without compatibilizers, the clay could not be exfoliated, and it lowered the crystallization peak temperature, crystallinity level, and the long period of RHDPE. MAPE and clay layers could act as heterogeneous nucleating agents for RHDPE. The titanate had a little influence on crystallization behavior of RHDPE. Adding clay to RHDPE reduced the impact strength but had little influence on the tensile strength. Both the storage and loss moduli increased with up to 5% of clay in hybrids containing CAPS, and there was an about 44% increase in impact strength of RHDPE/clay hybrid containing 5% MAPE compared with that of the hybrid containing no MAPE. The clay presence lowered the thermal stability of RHDPE.

Thermal, mechanical and morphological properties of polypropylene/clay/wood flour nanocomposites

“…Since thermoplastics such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) are hydrophobic and have poor miscibility with hydrophilic layered silicates, nan-oclay was usually organo-chemically modified with alkylammonium groups to facilitate their interaction with thermoplastics. In addition, the miscibility between nanoclay and PE or PP can be improved by the addition of compatibilizers such as MAPE, MAPP or carboxylated PE [18,21]. There are two concepts of intercalation and exfoliation, which can define the structures in clay-polymer hybrids.…”

“…Although some studies have been conducted on the reinforcement effect of clay in thermoplastics such as PP and PE, limited data is available on the wood flour/clay/plastic hybrids by melt compounding. With the presence of larger-size wood fibers, a synergetic combination of clay and coupling agent is often needed to achieve desired composite properties [21]. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of wood flour, clay, compatibilizer on thermal, mechanical and morphological properties of PP-based composites.…”

Radiation fabrication and characterization of the nanocomposite: Waste polyethylene /ethylene propylene diene/treated nanokaolin

“…The thermograms show that the thermal stability of polymer nanocomposites increased by gamma irradiation as a result of establishing intermolecular radiation crosslinking. Similarly, the residual mass % of the WPE/EPDM blend significantly increased upon the incorporation of SMK at the maximum cited filler ratio, irradiated with 50 kGy it was about eight times as much as which reported for pure matrix .…”

Effect of rubber content on morphology and thermal and rheological behaviors of acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber/poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate)/organoclay nanocomposites

“…It has been reported that OC shows both nucleation and suppression effect on polymer crystallization [36,37]. The reduction of pc T and c X indicates that OC particles seem to hinder the process of crystallization of EVA due to reducing of the diffusion rate of EVA molecular chains into the crystallization fronts and also playing as confining objects for EVA chains crystallization [38].…”