Upcycling of polypropylene with various concentrations of peroxydicarbonate and dilauroyl peroxide and two processing steps

The influence of two peroxides (peroxydicarbonate/dilauroyl peroxide) with various concentrations (10–200 mmol/kg PP) and their effective opportunity to introduce long chain branched (LCB) were investigated. The dependence of a single and double extrusion step and the changes of the properties were studied. Experiments were carried out in a single screw extruder at 180°C for the first extrusion step (modification) and at 240°C for the second extrusion step (processing simulation). Melt flow rate and dynamic rheological properties were studied at a measuring temperature of 230°C. For the definitive determination of long chain branched polypropylene (LCB-PP) served the extensional rheology measurements. The mechanical properties were examined via tensile test and impact tensile test. Summarized, LCB (melt strength) could be observed via extensional rheology for all modified specimens and the mechanical properties were maintained or even improved for the modified samples. Particularly, samples containing dilauroyl peroxide display excellent mechanical properties in this study.