0000000000427656
AUTHOR
A. Correnti
Effect of Processing Conditions on the Degradation and on the Recycling of Polycarbonate
Polycarbonate, like other polycondensation polymers, can be easily recycled without significant loss of properties only with careful drying. Indeed, the presence of humidity strongly decreases the molecular weight of the polymer by hydrolytic chain scission. In this paper, the degradation and the recycling of an extrusion grade polycarbonate sample has been investigated considering mainly the effect of the humidity. Some degradation is observed also for the material reprocessed in dry conditions and due to the thermomechanical stress acting on the melt. The chain scission is strongly reduced if the processing is carried out under nitrogen flow. In these conditions less degradation effects …
Recycling of inside upholstery of end-of-life cars
A model study for the recycling of the interior upholstery plastic parts of end-of-life cars has been carried out by reprocessing the homogenized scraps of an upholstery farm in the presence of different compatibilizer precursors, such as an ethylene-glycidylmethacrylate copolymer (EGMA), a maleic anhydride functionalized thermoplastic elastomer (SEBS-MA), etc. The investigated scraps contained recycled polyethylene (from agricultural uses) and poly(ethylene terephthalate), as the main components, plus minor proportions of polypropylene, polyamide-6, and other additives, including an ethylene copolymer (EC), probably an ethylene-acrylic acid copolymer, which is used to compatibilize the car…