Processing-morphology-performance relationship of injected polypropylene blends and composites

C. ROSALES; N. AIT HOCINE; V. PETTARIN; C. BERNAL; A. CONSTANTINO

Guimarães

Conferencia; PMI2018 International Conference on Polymers and Mould Innovations; 2018

Plastic wastes are one of the main environmental concerns of the XXI century. Recycling of polymers as mix-tures could be an attractive alternative. Commercial LLDPE and PP was mixed and injection moulded. The aim was to correlate the morphology induced by processing with mechanical performance. Morphology of prepared blends were analyzed by DSC and SEM. Fracture and Tensile tests were carried out on mode I double edge-notched tensile (DENT) and dog-bone specimens, respectively. It was observed a clear correlation between microstructure and mechanical behavior: when PP second phase is embedded in a LLDPE matrix, blends exhibit a ductile stable behavior; on the contrary, when LLDPE particles are embed-ded in a PP matrix, a brittle un-stable behavior is observed; finally, a transition behavior is found when blends present a co-continuous microstructure.