The Effect of Size and Surface Treatment of Nucleating Agents on Polyamide 6 Morphology Studied by Flash Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Abstract

Abstract: The use of recycled polymer materials with low carbon footprint, which enables circular economy, is becoming increasingly interesting for commercial use in the world. The main reasons for this are the accumulation of waste after the use of polymer products and the warming of the atmosphere due to the overloading of the environment with greenhouse gases produced during the extraction of these materials. We were interested in the differences in properties between differently modified samples of thermoset waste in a thermoplastic matrix. Our main focus was on the influence of the modification of the interface on the stiffness and strength of the prepared material. The results of tensile and bending tests showed that with the right combination of compatibilizers, we were able to successfully increase the stiffness and strength of the composites. The simultaneous increase in stiffness and strength is a very good indicator that with the right combination of compatibilizers (polypropylene grafted maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) and modified thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) co-polymer) we were able to ensure good surface interaction between the fibres and the polymer matrix in these samples. Waste paper was added to the thermoplastic matrix as a reference. The difference in the performance of the composites can be explained by the better wettability of the waste paper with the SEBS-g-MA compatibilizer and the better interfacial interactions of the modified TPU copolymer with the thermoset and the PP-g-MA with the glass fibres in the case of the waste thermoset composite. Keywords: waste thermoset, compatibilizer, thermoplastics, different fraction of waste