Improved properties of recycled polypropylene by introducing the long chain branched structure through reactive extrusion
Highlights: • A novel approach is applied to modify recycled PP. • Long chain branched structure is introduced onto recycled PP. • The structural change of recycled PP is determined by FTIR, DSC and rheology. • The impact strength of recycled PP is obviously improved. • Inorganic fillers have no effect on the modification of recycled PP. - Abstract: An approach originated from preparing long chain branched polypropylene (PP) was applied to modify the properties of recycled PP that involved reactive extrusion to introduce a branched chain structure onto recycled PP under the assistance of chemical reaction between maleic anhydride (MAH) monomer and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) grafts. The results from Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) indicated the reaction took place during melt mixing, and the intensity of ester increased with increasing amount of MAH. Several rheological plots including complex viscosity, storage modulus, loss modulus, loss tangent and Cole-Cole plot were used to investigate the rheological properties of recycled PP and modified PP with MAH, which indicated an additional longer relaxation time that was not shown in recycled PP. The effects of branched structure on melting and crystallization behaviors were also investigated, demonstrating the branched chains acted as nucleating agent. Moreover, the branched structure of modified samples gave rise to enhance mechanical properties, especially, the higher impact strength compared with recycled PP.