| Abstract: | Recycling of waste plastics as a blend of generic types is attractive since a difficult separations problem is avoided. However, blends of incompatible polymers are frequently very brittle and cannot be considered for many applications. Additives which modify the blend to give it ductility may provide a solution to this problem. Chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) made by a slurry process has been suggested for this application by Schramm and Blanchard. Further documentation of the effectiveness of this approach is given here. Addition of CPE to such a blend generally increases the elongation at break and the energy to break very dramatically with ordinarily some loss in strength and modulus. This approach works most effectively in blends of high polyethylene and poly(vinyl chloride) content. Three grades of CPE were studied here which revealed that the specific structure of the CPE molecule is a factor. The effectiveness of CPE for blend modification is believed to derive from the graded molecular structure acquired during chlorination. |
