Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2024
Monday–Friday, March 4–8, 2024; Minneapolis & Virtual
Session W26: Physics-Informed Design of Recycled, Upcycled, and Sustainable Polymers: Additives and Processing Conditions
3:00 PM–6:00 PM,
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Room: 101G
Sponsoring
Unit:
DPOLY
Chair: Wenlin Zhang, Dartmouth College
Abstract: W26.00005 : Influence of Mixing Protocol on Block Copolymer Compatibilized PE/iPP Blends*
3:48 PM–4:00 PM
Presenter:
Gabriela I Diaz
(University of Minnesota)
Authors:
Gabriela I Diaz
(University of Minnesota)
Liyang Shen
(University of Minnesota)
Kendra Flanigan
(University of Minnesota)
Christopher J Ellison
(University of Minnesota)
Frank S Bates
(University of Minnesota)
Compatibilization of poly(ethylene) (PE) and isotactic poly(propylene) (iPP) using block copolymers is a promising approach for recycling mixed polyolefin plastic waste. An EXE triblock copolymer was premixed into commercial PE and iPP followed by addition in a subsequent mixing step of the second homopolymer, where X denotes an iPP melt-miscible poly(ethylene-ran-ethylethylene) random copolymer and E represents hydrogenated 1,4-poly(butadiene). Through transmission electron microscopy, EXE was found to produce micelles in PE and larger aggregates in iPP. The 2-stage blending process led to materials that consistently underperformed in uniaxial tensile testing blend specimens prepared by mixing all three components in a single step. Annealing both PE-rich and iPP-rich 2-stage blended specimens above the melting temperature followed by cooling to room temperature led to recovery of the exceptional toughness (ca. > 400% strain at break) obtained with the single-stage mixing process, but over surprisingly different annealing times. These results reveal distinct process-dependent differences in interfacial localization of EXE in melt blended PE and iPP.
*Funding for this work was provided by the Center for Sustainable Polymers, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported Center for Chemical Innovation (CHE-1413862).
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