Abstract
The degradation of mechanical properties is the most challenging point for the development of plastic mechanical recycling processes. Remelting and shear deformation contained in the mechanical process are a part of degradation in recycled plastics. In this study, virgin high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was simulated to be recycled by remelting and treating with shear deformation being measured at different shear treatment rates (0–100/s) using a cone-plate rheometer. The obtained shear treatment product was remolded as a thin film. The evaluation was performed comparing virgin HDPE (VPE) without any processing with shear-treated HDPE with various shear treatment rates. Tensile property, X-ray crystallography, and morphological observations were performed in order to investigate the relationship between mechanical properties, thickness of lamellar size, and the morphology of shear-treated HDPE as compared to VPE. It can be found that the elongation at break of shear-treated HDPE at a high shear treatment rate (100/s) was significantly decreased from VPE. This degradation mechanism was related to the decreased degree of crystallinity, thickness of the crystalline layer, intermediate layer, and occurrence of crystalline orientation. This study expected to explain the degradation mechanism of HDPE from shear deformation which can be further improved by the processing conditions of the mechanical plastic recycling process.
Highlights
The cumulative amount of plastic waste worldwide in 2015 was 6.3 billion tons.Among them, only 9% was recycled and the remaining was discarded by incineration and accumulation in the environment [1]
This study focused on the physical degradation behavior of virgin high-density polyethylene (HDPE) treated with different shear treatment rates, the effect on mechanical properties, and the relationship with lamellar structures
It can be found that the elongation at break and Young’s modulus of virgin HDPE (VPE) were higher than those of the shear-treated HDPE samples
Summary
The cumulative amount of plastic waste worldwide in 2015 was 6.3 billion tons. Among them, only 9% was recycled and the remaining was discarded by incineration and accumulation in the environment [1]. The effects from the remelting and reprocessing of waste plastics in order to be recycled as pellets and the remolding process for producing plastic products affects the degradation of properties of plastics [7]. This study focused on the physical degradation behavior of virgin HDPE treated with different shear treatment rates, the effect on mechanical properties, and the relationship with lamellar structures. While the shear rate of the film extrusion process can be performed at 1–10,000/s [15], a shear rate which was higher than 100/s affected the distortion of the PE extrudates [16] For this reason, the virgin HDPE was simulated to be mechanically recycled by heat and shear deformation, using a cone-plate rheometer at 0–100/s. This study to explain the physical degradation mechanism from shear deformation andwas theexpected relationship between physical degradation mechanism from shear deformation and the relationship between the the shear deformation condition, mechanical properties, and lamellar structure of HDPE shear deformation condition, mechanical properties, and lamellar structure of HDPE for further application in the improvement of HDPE mechanical recycling processes. for further application in the improvement of HDPE mechanical recycling processes
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