Extrusion and characterization of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) filaments compounded with chain extender and impact modifiers for material-extrusion additive manufacturing

The continuous growth of annual production and consumption of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is coined with increasing waste that leaks into the environment, landfills and oceans as microplastics and nano plastics fragments. Upcycling the recycled PET to make a feedstock for the fast-growing material-extrusion additive manufacturing (MEX-AM) technology can contribute to the solution and supports the concept of sustainable materials. In this work, extrudable filaments comprising recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) with low-cost additives, such as pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) as a chain extender, styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene terpolymer functionalized with maleic anhydride (SEBS-g-MA), a thermal modifier and toughening agent, ethylene-ethyl acrylate-glycidyl methacrylate terpolymer (E-EA-GMA), a functional reactive elastomeric impact modifier and ethylene-ethyl-acrylate (EEA), a non-reactive elastomeric impact modifier, have been fabricated using the twin-screw extruder. The optimum extrusion process parameters for producing uniform filaments of different rPET compounded formulations have been identified, this includes the extrusion die temperature of 280 °C and the screw speed of 150 ± 3 rpm. The compounded filaments are then printed into standard ASTM test specimens for thermal characterization and mechanical characterization, including glass transition and melting temperatures, crystallinity and crystallization temperature, tensile strength, tensile modulus, ductility, flexural strength, and Izod impact energy. Furthermore, the melt flow index for the filaments was measured. More significantly, the experimental data showed that compounding rPET with such additives in the reactive twin-screw extrusion process results in uniform filaments that display advantageous thermal and mechanical properties and can be used as a feedstock in the MEX-AM technology. This study suggests that compounding the recycled PET pellets with low-cost additives while extruding them into filaments for MEX-AM offers excellent potential to make high-value-added customized products from a sustainable polymer feedstock, such as prototyping, tooling, testing components or end-use internal components for small machines and cars.

Effects of SEBS-g-MA on Rheology, Morphology and Mechanical Properties of PET/HDPE Blends

The effects of additive styrene/ethylene-butylene/styrene copolymer grafted with maleic anhydride (SEBS-g-MA) were investigated on the rheology, morphology and mechanical properties of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/high density polyethylene (HDPE) blend. The ratio of the two components was changed in small increments to track phase inversion. The rheology measurements show that SEBS-g-MA acts differently on HDPE and PET, as different morphologies are formed due to viscosity ratio change. With the help of electron microscopy various phases after extrusion and after injection molding were revealed and identified. Because of the high viscosity of HDPE the co-continuous morphology was immediately formed when PET reached 30 vol%. The range of the co-continuous structure of the blend was wider when SEBS-g-MA was added, and the elongation at break also improved as additive content increased, without a significant strength decrease. The divergence of the mechanical properties from the theoretical value, i.e. the value determined by the mixing rule, can be explained by the changing phase structure.

Nanometric Dispersion of a Mg/Al Layered Double Hydroxide into a Chemically Modified Polycaprolactone

Polycaprolactone (PCL) was chemically modified by grafting maleic anhydride on it, through a radical reaction induced by benzoyl peroxide as initiator. To improve the grafting degree, a second unsaturated comonomer such as glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) has been added, demonstrating a good reactivity in melt grafting without leading to long grafted chains. The quantitative determination of grafted maleic anhydride, performed by FTIR analysis, revealed a grafting weight percentage of 9.5 +/- 0.9, and the NMR characterization made it possible to propose a structure for the grafted polymer (PCLgMA). The modified polymer was analyzed by DSC and X-ray diffraction, showing a structural organization even better than that of the pristine polymer. An exchange reaction with a layered double hydroxide (LDH), hydrotalcite-like solid in the nitrate form, led to the disappearance of the crystalline basal peak of LDH in the X-ray diffractograms, suggesting a possible exfoliation of the inorganic sample. An oxidative etching on the composite surface followed by atomic force microscopy analysis made it possible to enlighten the lamellar structure in the pristine sample. In the composite sample, the well identifiable narrow fissures homogeneously distributed on the surface demonstrate that nanometer stacks of LDH sheets, embedded in a highly textured PCLgMA matrix, are present in the composite sample. The comparison of X-ray diffractograms and AFM analysis suggests either a partial exfoliation or an intercalation of the polymer in a lamellar texture with a basal spacing higher than 5 nm. In any case, the process of ionic exchange between nitrate LDH and PCLgMA led to the formation of nanocomposites, in which no large hydrotalcite aggregates are present. This is an interesting method to obtain a direct intercalation of the modified polymer into the inorganic solid with a simple ionic exchange reaction.