Synthesis and characterization of polymeric plasticizer from PET waste and its applications in nitrile rubber and nitrile–PVC blend

Abstract

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste is not biodegradable; thus, it will create environmental hazards if disposed in landfills. Therefore, the only way of addressing the problem of disposal of post-industrial and post-consumer PET wastes is through recycling. The polyester plasticizer for polyacrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) and polyacrylonitrile butadiene–polyvinylchloride rubber blend (NBR–PVC) was obtained by the depolymerization of PET waste with 2-ethyl-1-hexanol. The PET waste was depolymerized until a polymeric plasticizer with the average molecular weight in the range of 450–900 g/mol was obtained. The polymeric plasticizer was characterized for acid and hydroxyl numbers, viscosity, density, FTIR, NMR and TGA/DTA thermogram. The prepared polymeric plasticizer was used in the preparation of nitrile rubber and nitrile–PVC rubber blend rubber sheets, where these sheets were tested for compatibility, tensile strength, elongation-at-break, hardness and ageing properties. Nitrile rubber and nitrile–PVC blend sheets were also prepared using DOP as a plasticizer and a comparative study with the synthesized polymeric plasticizer was made. It was observed that synthesized polymeric plasticizer provides excellent tensile properties and ageing resistance for high-performance applications as compared to that obtained from DOP. The end uses for nitrile rubber and nitrile–PVC rubber blend compounds are quite diverse, but they can be loosely categorized as being either general performances or higher performance applications. Each of these performance categories requires a different set of considerations in terms of compounding with plasticizers.