Surface‐pegylated chitin whiskers as an effective additive to enhance the mechanical properties of recycled ABS

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe recyclability of materials is a key issue related to the use of polymers in the automotive and electronic industries, among others. The multiple thermal and mechanical operations used in recycling can cause severe damage to the molecular architecture and microstructure of polymers that frequently leads to a reduction in their mechanical properties, which restricts their recyclability. In this work, nanocomponents (whiskers) derived from chitin were surface‐modified by grafting different molar masses of methoxylated poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG). The modified chitin whiskers were then incorporated into reprocessed ABS (acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene) to yield nanocomposites with 0.5% (mass/mass) whiskers. The obtained whiskers and nanocomposites were investigated using techniques such as transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The properties of the nanocomposites were also investigated using tensile tests and dynamic mechanical tests. The results show that the surface‐modified chitin whiskers with high molar mass mPEG grafts increased the strength, elongation at break, and stiffness of the reprocessed ABS over virgin and reprocessed ABS and reprocessed ABS nanocomposites with unmodified whiskers. This indicates that the use of surface‐modified chitin whiskers can be valuable in improving the mechanical properties of recycled polymers and, consequently, enhancing their recyclability. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42463.