Studies on Wollastonite Reinforced Recycled Polyethene (PE) Composites

Abstract

The majority of thermoplastics are not feasible substituted and non-biodegradable. To overcome these issues, recycling is a part of an effort to reduce plastic waste and stop serious pollution problems. Therefore, a sustainable plastic waste management strategy must be established to manage a large amount of generated waste. Polyethene is one of the most widely used commodity thermoplastics because of its outstanding properties, in particular easy processability, recycling ability, the versatility of applications. Generally used mineral fillers for the Polyethylene compounding are talc, calcium carbonate, glass beads, mica, silica, fibres and calcium silicate compound [1]. In this wollastonite was taken in powder form and mixed with recycled polyethene at various proportions, extruded through a twin-screw extruder by the melt mix process. This extrudate can be pelletized and used for making standard specimens as per the international standard Tests. Flexural properties were studied on wollastonite based recycled polyethene composites. There is an improvement in the flexural property after adding wollastonite. The test result was compared with the base material and there is an improvement in the recycled material after reinforcing with wollastonite filler. Key Words: Recycled polyethene, Flexural, Wollastonite, composites, injection moulding, Melt mix.