Abstract
Hybrid composites of in-situ microfibrillar recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET)/glass fiber (GF)/polypropylene (PP) were developed as an economical and environmentally friendly alternative to glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic PP composites. The effect of replacing glass fibers with in-situ formed polymer microfibrils on mechanical and viscoelastic properties of the composites was investigated with tensile, flexural, and dynamic mechanical tests. Characterization results showed that mechanical and viscoelastic performance of 34% glass fiber reinforced PP can be obtained with 24% glass fiber, 10% microfibrillar rPET composites. Compatibilization effect of the maleic anhydride grafted PP (MA-g-PP) was studied using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images confirmed the formation of the rPET microfibrils in the hybrid matrix. Besides, composites with MA-g-PP compatibilizers showed significantly improved fiber-matrix interfacial adhesion on the SEM images.
Highlights
Compared to traditional fiber-reinforced composites, in-situ microfibrillar composites (MFCs) are lightweight, easy to process, and recyclable
Even though the formation of in-situ microfibrils in polymer blends is a known method in polymer composite science and technology, a hybrid form of glass fibers and microfibrillar PETs has not been studied previously
Replacing 20% of the composite glass fiber content with 20% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) significantly decreases mechanical properties, possibly due to the PET content that was not transformed into fibers during the compounding process. rPETs that are not transformed into microfibrils possibly lead to micro-crack formation at the polymer matrix interface reducing the tensile strength of the composites
Summary
Compared to traditional fiber-reinforced composites, in-situ microfibrillar composites (MFCs) are lightweight, easy to process, and recyclable. In microfibrillar PET - PP blends, different phase morphologies were obtained by changing PET content in the composites. Mishra et al were investigated the tensile, morphological and dynamic mechanical properties of hybrid in situ PET – PP - multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composites. Both the presence of the in situ formed PET fibers and MWCNTs have improved the storage moduli of the composites [14, 15]. Even though the formation of in-situ microfibrils in polymer blends is a known method in polymer composite science and technology, a hybrid form of glass fibers and microfibrillar PETs has not been studied previously. GF34/PP (34% glass fiber reinforced polypropylene) composition was selected as the reference composite as the industrial application of the material (washing machine tub) uses this formulation
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