Abstract
In the aerospace industry, many composite parts are manufactured by processes using plastic vacuum bags made of polyamide 6 (PA6) as a consumable material. This implies that after demolding the part, this plastic material should be discarded, generating a considerable amount of waste. Tons of vacuum bags are discarded and incinerated per month by several companies in this sector, which highlights the need to recycle and/or reuse this material. PA6/linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) blends are of great technological interest because they can combine the excellent thermo-mechanical and oxygen barrier properties of the PA6 with high impact strength, good processability, and low cost of LLDPE. The replacement of neat PA6 by the post-processing vacuum bags residue PA6 may be a new strategy for the recycling of this material. In this work, PA6/LLDPE/maleic anhydride-grafted LLDPE (LLDPE-g-MA) (90/5/5) blends were prepared using a co-rotational twin-screw extruder and the neat PA6 was replaced by different contents of post-processing PA6 (5, 10, 15 and 20 wt.%). The mechanical, thermal, and morphological characterization was evaluated. The increase in the content of post-processing PA6 caused an increase in the crystallinity degree of the LLDPE phase, acting as a nucleating agent to the LLDPE phase, reducing the toughening effect of this phase in the blends and, therefore, providing this phase to act as a reinforcing agent.
Highlights
The increase of consumption of polymeric materials in various sectors of the industry and in the most diverse applications generates an expressive amount of post-processing waste, which can cause environmental problems making it necessary to adopt appropriate measures to reduce these problems [1,2]
Analyzing the spectra of the virgin and post-processing polyamide 6 (PA6) films from vacuum bags, it was verified that there are no significant differences between them, where both have the same bands, which are characteristic of PA6
Was no effective compatibilization of the blend by this reaction, only by steric hindrance mechanisms, From these observations, it can be concluded that the post-processing vacuum bags have which cause elastic repulsion of the chains and prevent the coalescence of the linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) phase given by the properties similar to the neat PA6, with thermal, chemical, and rheological characteristics that allow presence of maleic anhydride
Summary
The increase of consumption of polymeric materials in various sectors of the industry and in the most diverse applications generates an expressive amount of post-processing waste, which can cause environmental problems making it necessary to adopt appropriate measures to reduce these problems [1,2] The recycling of these plastics wastes is one of the most feasible ways to overcome these problems, because it allows combining environmental interests with economic benefits [3,4]. It is necessary to use a compatibilizer agent, which are generally copolymers or polymers grafted with reactive groups of different polarity from one of the phases of the blend, for example, maleic anhydride-grafted linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE-g-MA). PA6 from vacuum bags, subsequent drying, and addition of this material directly to the extruder to prepare the polymer blends Another goal is to study the effect of the addition of different post-processing. PA6 that can be used without significant losses of PA6/LLDPE blends properties
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