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Varghese P. J G, David DA, Karuth A, Manamkeri Jafferali JF, P. M SB, George JJ, Rasulev B, Raghavan P. Experimental and Simulation Studies on Nonwoven Polypropylene-Nitrile Rubber Blend: Recycling of Medical Face Masks to an Engineering Product. ACS Omega 2022; 7:4791-4803. [PMID: 35187299 PMCID: PMC8851451 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c04913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2021] [Accepted: 12/08/2021] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
The battle against the COVID-19 pandemic counters the waste management system, as billions of single-use face masks are used per day all over the world. Proper disposal of used face masks without jeopardizing the health and the environment is a challenge. Herein, a novel method for recycling of medical face masks has been studied. This method incorporates the nonwoven polypropylene (PP) fiber, which is taken off from the mask after disinfecting it, with acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) using maleic anhydride as the compatibilizer, which results in a PP-NBR blend with a high percentage economy. The PP-NBR blends show enhanced thermomechanical properties among which, 70 wt % PP content shows superior properties compared to other composites with 40, 50, and 60 wt % of PP. The fully Atomistic simulation of PP-NBR blend with compatibilizer shows an improved tensile and barrier properties, which is in good agreement with the experimental studies. The molecular dynamics simulation confirms that the compatibility between non-polar PP and polar NBR phases are vitally important for increasing the interfacial adhesion and impeding the phase separation.
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Affiliation(s)
- George Varghese P. J
- Department
of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Patna (IIT P), Patna 801106, Bihar, India
- Materials
Science and NanoEngineering Lab, Department of Polymer Science and
Rubber Technology, Cochin University of
Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kochi 682022, Kerala, India
| | - Deepthi Anna David
- Materials
Science and NanoEngineering Lab, Department of Polymer Science and
Rubber Technology, Cochin University of
Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kochi 682022, Kerala, India
- Department
of Applied Chemistry, Cochin University
of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kochi 682022, Kerala, India
| | - Anas Karuth
- Department
of Coatings and Polymeric Materials, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota 58105, United States
| | - Jabeen Fatima Manamkeri Jafferali
- Materials
Science and NanoEngineering Lab, Department of Polymer Science and
Rubber Technology, Cochin University of
Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kochi 682022, Kerala, India
| | - Sabura Begum P. M
- Department
of Applied Chemistry, Cochin University
of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kochi 682022, Kerala, India
| | - Jinu Jacob George
- Materials
Science and NanoEngineering Lab, Department of Polymer Science and
Rubber Technology, Cochin University of
Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kochi 682022, Kerala, India
| | - Bakhtiyor Rasulev
- Department
of Coatings and Polymeric Materials, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota 58105, United States
| | - Prasanth Raghavan
- Materials
Science and NanoEngineering Lab, Department of Polymer Science and
Rubber Technology, Cochin University of
Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kochi 682022, Kerala, India
- Department
of Materials Engineering and Convergence Technology, Gyeongsang National University, 501 Jinju-daero, Jinju 52828, Republic of Korea
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