Abstract
The interest on recycled materials from post-consumer polymers present in discarded commercial packaging has gained increasing attention. The development of new engineering materials based on degraded polymers is an interesting possibility. Blends of low cost plastics such as polyolefins, polystyrene, poly(vinyl chloride), discarded in urban waste are of particular interest. The Instituto de Macromoléculas had developed a two-step process for recovering plastic residues which allows to obtain materials with good properties. One of these materials may be used as plastic lumber and consists of a recycled 75/25 LDPE/HDPE partially degraded blend. The exposure of this blend to low doses of 60Co gamma radiation improves its mechanical properties due to partial crosslinking. Differential scanning calorimetry, gel permeation chromatography, infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction have been used to investigate the effects of gamma irradiation on the thermal behavior of polymer material. The melting and crystallization temperatures were found to decrease as the radiation dose increases, showing a tendency to stabilization at higher values. The correlation of the degradation process, melting heat and molecular weight distribution is discussed.
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