Future trends of plastic bottle recycling: Compatibilization of PET and PLA

We improved the recyclability of mixed poly(ethylene-terephthalate) (PET) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) bottle waste. We made uncompatibilized and compatibilized PET/PLA blends of different weight ratios with a twin-screw extruder. Then, we analysed the mechanical properties, the miscibility and the thermal stability of the blends with and without compatibilizers. From the change in intrinsic viscosities (IV), we concluded that different reactions occur between the polymer chains due to the compatibilizers. We observed that when ethylene-butyl acrylate-glycidyl methacrylate (E-BA-GMA) as compatibilizer was added, the blends became tougher; elongation at break and Charpy impact strength increased, but Young's modulus of the blends decreased. In addition, the compatibilizers improved the thermal stability of the blends and this may have been caused by a number of mechanisms.     

Effect of PMMA on crystallization behavior and hydrophilicity of poly(vinylidene fluoride)/poly(methyl methacrylate) blend prepared in semi-dilute solutions

Films of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) blend were derived from a special procedure of casting semi-dilute solutions. Hydrophilic character and crystallization of PVDF were optimized by variation of PMMA concentration in PVDF/PMMA blends. It was found that a PVDF/PMMA blend containing 70 wt% PMMA has a good performance for the potential application of hydrophilic membranes via thermally induced phase separation. The films presented β crystalline phase regardless of PMMA content existed in the blends. Thermal analysis of the blends showed a promotion of crystallization of PVDF with small addition of PMMA which induced larger lamellar thickness of PVDF, leading to the largest spherulitic crystal of PVDF (10 wt% PMMA) is about 8 μm. SEM micrographs illustrated no phase separation occurred in blends, due to the high compatibility between PVDF and PMMA.     

Properties of blends containing two liquid crystalline polymers

Blends containing two, wholly aromatic, naphthalene-based liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs) are studied. Experimental results show that the viscosities of the resulting blends are lower than the parent LCPs over the entire shear-rate range investigated. The orientation development following capillary flow demonstrates, that over a defined blend composition range, some blends have higher orientability than the constituent polymers. This is further manifested in the tensile and flexural properties of injection-molded specimens. A detailed analysis indicates that in the composition range where synergistic effects are observed in orientation development as well as in mechanical properties, only one glass transition temperature is detected. This suggests that “miscibility” is desirable for obtaining maximum properties in these blend systems.     

Modeling strain hardening of polydisperse polystyrene melts by molecular stress function theory

The strain hardening of blends of polystyrene (PS) and ultra-high molecular weight polystyrene (UHMW-PS) in elongational flow is modeled by the molecular stress function (MSF) theory. Assuming that the ratios of strain energies stored in polydisperse and monodisperse polymers are identical for linear and nonlinear deformations, the value of the only non-linear parameter of the theory in extensional flows, the maximum molecular stress f_max, can be determined and is shown to be related to steady-state compliance J_e0. Using only linear-viscoelastic data, the elongational viscosity of PS/UHMW-PS blends is consistently predicted by the MSF theory.     

Miscibility of cellulose acetate with vinyl polymers

Binary blend films of cellulose acetate (CA) with flexible syntheticpolymers including poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc), poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP),and poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone-co-vinyl acetate) [P(VP-co-VAc)] were preparedfrommixed polymer solutions by solvent evaporation. Thermal analysis by DSC showedthat CA of any degree of substitution (DS) was not miscible with PVAc, but CAwith DS less than 2.8 was miscible with PVP to form homogeneous blends. Thestate of mixing in CA/P(VP-co-VAc) blends was affected not only by the DS of CAbut also by the VP/VAc copolymer composition. As far as CAs of DS<2.8 andP(VP-co-VAc)s with VP contents more than ca. 25 mol% were used,theCA/copolymer blends mostly showed a miscible behaviour irrespective of themixing ratio. FT-IR measurements for the miscible blends of CA/PVP andCA/P(VP-co-VAc) revealed the presence of hydrogen-bonding interactions betweenresidual hydroxyls of CA and carbonyls of N-vinyl pyrrolidone units, which maybe assumed to largely contribute to the good miscibility.     

Polyethylene blends: A correlation study between morphology and environmental resistance

HDPE is widely used in outdoor applications in which dielectric, mechanical and thermal behaviors combined with high environmental resistance are a major concern. Unfortunately, the required processing conditions of the material often result in residual stresses that in connection with environmental exposure are responsible for premature failure. In an attempt to combine good durability with more facile processing conditions for HDPE based components, blends of this polymer with LDPE and LLDPE were studied, as a function of the blend composition ratio. Measurements of crystallinity and dynamical mechanical studies were conducted which established a quantitative relationship between morphological features and composition. The optimal results of performance were obtained with HDPE/LLDPE blends which are discussed here in terms of their morphology and mobility of the amorphous phase.     

Characterization of vacuum gas oil-low density polyethylene blends by thermogravimetric analysis

The study of the catalytic pyrolysis of mixtures of fuel and polymers is interesting in order to explore the possibility of using commercial fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) units or similar processes for recycling plastic wastes. In this work, different samples of vacuum gas oil (VGO), polyethylene (PE) and vacuum gas oil-polyethylene blends (VGO-PE) have been studied by thermogravimetric analysis. Vacuum gas oil-polyethylene blends with 1, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10% w/w of PE were prepared by continuously stirring for 120 min, at 60 rpm at 120 °C, and afterwards, the effect of different catalysts (HZSM-5, HUSY, HBeta zeolites, FCC catalysts and Al-MCM-41) on the decomposition of these mixtures was studied. Moreover, the deposition of coke over each catalyst was studied by thermogravimetric analysis in an oxidant atmosphere. The catalytic pyrolysis behaviour of the VGO-PE mixtures indicates a two-step process, the degradation of the VGO and the PE fraction being almost independent. The degradation or evaporation of the VGO fraction is only slightly affected by the presence of the catalyst, whereas the PE fraction showed similar behaviour as that already described in the literature for the pure polymer. The results show that the HBeta zeolite is the most active catalyst for the decomposition of the mixtures, and that the ZSM-5 zeolite is the catalyst with the lowest amount of coke formation. These results are in very good agreement with the structural characteristics of the different catalysts studied, i.e., with their pore size and acidity.     

Blending to Make Nonhealable Polymers Healable: Nanophase Separation Observed by CP/MAS 13C NMR Analysis

Can commodity polymers are made to be healable just by blending with self-healable polymers? Here we report the first study on the fundamental aspect of this practically challenging issue. Poly(ether thiourea) (PTUEG₃; T_g=27 °C) reported in 2018 is extraordinary in that it is mechanically robust but can self-heal even at 12 °C. In contrast, poly(octamethylene thiourea) (PTUC₈; T_g=50 °C), an analogue of PTUEG₃, cannot heal below 92 °C. We found that their polymer blend self-healed in a temperature range above 32 °C even when its PTUEG₃ content was only 20 mol %. Unlike PTUEG₃ alone, this polymer blend, upon exposure to high humidity, barely plasticized, keeping its excellent mechanical properties due to the non-hygroscopic nature of the PTUC₈ component. CP/MAS ¹³C NMR analysis revealed that the polymer blend was nanophase-separated, which possibly accounts for why such a small amount of PTUEG₃ provided the polymer blend with humidity-tolerant self-healable properties.     

木质素磺酸钙与聚乙烯醇的相互作用及共混材料的性能

采用热分析、扫描电镜、力学性能测试方法研究了木质素磺酸钙(HLS)与PVA的相互作用及HLS对PVA热性能、结晶性能和力学性能的影响.结果表明,HLS可均匀分布在PVA基体中,HLS与PVA的FloryHuggins相互作用参数为负值(≈-0.0002),意味着HLS与PVA间存在强相互作用,具有良好的相容性,在熔融状态下可混容;HLS可降低PVA的平衡熔点,提高PVA的热分解温度,拓宽PVA的热塑加工温度窗口;HLS可抑制PVA结晶,对PVA起增强作用,使HLS/PVA共混膜的拉伸强度和杨氏模量升高,断裂伸长率减小,35%HLS可使PVA的拉伸强度和杨氏模量分别提高91.9%和604.7%.