| Abstract: | Virgin ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber in a thermoplastic elastomeric blend of polypropylene (PP) and EPDM rubber was substituted by ground EPDM vulcanizate of known composition, after which the mechanical properties of the raw EPDM/waste EPDM/PP blends were determined. The ratio of the rubber content in the waste EPDM (r‐W‐EPDM) to the raw EPDM (R‐EPDM) in the blends was varied from 0 : 100 to 45 : 55. Attempts to replace higher amounts (>45%) of R‐EPDM by W‐EPDM failed because of processing difficulty. Although a drop in mechanical properties of the blends was observed at lower loadings of W‐EPDM, the properties showed improvement at intermediate W‐EPDM loadings. The R‐EPDM/W–EPDM/PP blends were found to be reprocessable. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 82: 3304–3312, 2001 |
