The effect of chain extension on the thermal behaviour and crystallinity of reactive extruded recycled PET

Recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (R-PET) was chain extended with pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) in a commercial size twin-screw reactive extrusion system. Temperature-modulated differential scanning calorimetry (TMDSC) was used to evaluate the effect of the chain extension process on the thermal transitions and crystallinity of R-PET. Reactive extruded recycled PET (RER-PET) samples were tested based on different PMDA concentration and reactive extrusion residence times. The glass transition temperature (T_g) did not show a significant change as a function of PMDA addition or the extrusion residence time. Melting temperature (T_m) and crystallisation temperature (T_c) decreased with increasing PMDA concentration and with increasing extrusion residence time. RER-PET samples showed double melting peaks, it is believed that different melting mechanism is the reason behind this phenomenon. The crystallinity of RER-PET samples is lower than that of R-PET. RER-PET samples at constant PMDA concentration showed a decrease in crystallinity with increasing extrusion residence time. Results suggest that the reactive extrusion process is more dependent on PMDA concentration rather than reactive extrusion process residence time.The first author would like to acknowledge Advanced Engineering Center for Manufacturing (AECM) and Visy Industries for their financial support to this study.