Impact of recycled polypropylene on the specific properties of stretched polypropylene tapes for woven bag

Abstract

To create woven bag packaging for Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium (NPK) fertilizer granules, this work conducted an experimental study on the utilization of recycled polypropylene (RPP) in stretched polypropylene (PP) tapes. By altering the amount of RPP using an industrial-scale stretching tapes extrusion technique, the as-obtained RPP granules were utilized to develop three stretched tape composite series filled with 0.9, 2.8, and 3.6 wt% of RPP, respectively. The series of produced composites were described in terms of their structural, rheological, mechanical, and thermal characteristics. It was found that the inclusion of RPP into PP stretched tape composites improved the composites’ rigidity but reduced their toughness, due to the cumulative legacy effect of calcite particles and the RPP oxidative effect from the reprocessing history. However, RPP has shown good results in terms of storage modulus and strain at break, hence can be utilized in textile and engineering applications.