Affiliation:
1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Jinan, Jinan, PR China
2. Department of Chemical Engineering and CERMA, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
Abstract
In this work, untreated ground tire rubber (GTR) and maleated polyethylene-treated GTR (GTR/MAPE) were dry-blended with polypropylene (PP) to produce PP/GTR and PP/MAPE/GTR blends via rotational moulding. From the samples produced (0–50 wt-%), a complete characterisation including morphological, physical and mechanical properties (tensile, flexural and impact) was performed. The results showed that all the mechanical properties of PP/MAPE/GTR are below the neat PP values due to the elastomeric properties of GTR. However, the properties were significantly higher for GTR/MAPE compared to neat GTR. For example, the tensile modulus and tensile strength increased by up to 57% and 76%, respectively. Similarly, the flexural modulus and impact strength were improved by up to 74% and 52%, respectively. These results indicated that successful rotomoulding of these blends was achieved with good mechanical properties for the range of parameters studied.