Mechanical and physical properties of recycled, commingled, polymeric materials

Miscellaneous · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:7017991

Renfree, R W

Mixed, contaminated, semi-separated, post-consumer plastics, known as New Jersey Curbside Tailings (NJCT), were molded into lumber-like profiles on an ET/1 extruder and the compressive modulus, yield stress, and ultimate strength were determined as well as flexural properties. It was found that these materials have reproducible mechanical properties. To improve the mechanical properties of the materials, another common waste plastic, polystyrene (PS), was mixed with the NJCT in various percentages and the mechanical properties were determined. The NJCT material was upgraded by processing in the resin recovery pilot plant at the Rutgers University Center for Plastics Recycling Research and then compounded in a twin screw extruder. The resulting clean polyolefinic pellets were then injection molded into test specimens with various percentages of PS. Morphological investigations were carried out utilizing SEM to determine the physical structure responsible for the observed increases in properties. It was found that the unexpected improvement in properties which occurred in the 35-40% PS samples could be attributed to a dual phase, cocontinuous and interlocking morphology.

• Research Organization: Rutgers-the State Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7017991
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
COMPOSITE MATERIALS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLASTICS
RECYCLING
POLYMERS
PROCESSING
SOLID WASTES
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION
MATERIALS
PETROCHEMICALS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
WASTES
360603* - Materials- Properties
360606 - Other Materials- Physical Properties- (1992-)