Process behavior of compatible polymer blends

It is a common industrial practice to blend virgin polymer with the same polymer recycled from scrap plastic that, in general, has not undergone relevant degradation. In this article, the influence that incorporating recycled material has on injection processes, especially on the rheological behavior of the material was studied. With this aim in mind, a mixture of two materials with the same nature or composition and similar viscosity was used, which is the system that is most commonly seen in industry. The mixture studied is composed of virgin PP (polypropylene) typically found in injection processes, and recycled copolymer PP from scrap plastic. A complete characterization of the materials and applied existing models was carried out to predict the mechanical behavior of the mixtures. A model to predict the behavior of the mixtures during processing, based on the rheological characteristics of the materials used was developed. This predictive model has been experimentally validated using filling tests in injection molding machines, as well as by specific simulation software. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012

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