Composites of Waste, Ground Rubber Particles and Poly(Vinyl Chloride)

Abstract

Abstract Composites of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) were prepared with waste, finely ground printing rollers of nitrile rubber over a wide range of composition (up to 90% by weight of rubber component), through melt blending. The effect of different amounts of waste rubber on the tensile strength, % elongation, hardness, and flex crack resistance was studied. There was a considerable increase in the impact properties of PVC. Flex crack resistance was also significantly improved as the specimen did not crack even after 150,000 cycles for all composition containing more than 40% waste rubber. The waste rubber also imparted a plasticizing effect to PVC. The improvement in these properties could be due to interaction between PVC and the acrylonitrile part of nitrile rubber.