The Influence of the Use of Technological Waste and the Simulation of Material Lifetime on the Unnotched Impact Strength of Two Different Polymer Composites

Abstract

The article deals with the assessment of the impact of technological polymer waste resulting from plastic injection technology and the subsequent simulation of the lifetime of polymer products on the impact strength of two different polymer composites. Two different types of polymer composites used to produce plastic parts in the automotive industry were chosen for the research. Based on the evaluation of the PBT composite before exposing the specimens to elevated temperature, it can be concluded that the concentration of the recycled material in the virgin material only affects the values of the unnotched impact strength of the PBT composite when the recycled material accounts for at least 50 wt.%. The results of the unnotched impact strength of the test specimens exposed at 150 °C/500 h make it evident that the addition of recycled material to the virgin material significantly reduces the components’ service lives. The same trend could be observed with the second tested composite material, PPA.