Efficient Chain Extension Reaction of Poly (butylene terephthalate) by using Crystallization

Plastics are quite important materials for not only industrial usages but also our daily life. Many plastics are difficult to reuse because they are susceptible to UV, hydrolysis and so on leading to the reduction of molecular weight. Among them, poly (butylenes terephthalate) (PBT) is a valuable materials prepared by polycondensation reaction, and PBT has the same limitation to reuse. Hence, efficient chain extension reaction for recovered PBT has been needed to improve the properties damaged by chain scission. In this study, new chain extension reaction had been examined by using crystallization as pre-treatment. Isothermal crystallization at 161℃ concentrated the chain end-groups on the surface of the crystals, and chain extension reaction at 210℃, which was lower than the melting temperature of PBT, enhanced the molecular weight significantly compared with the reaction over the melting temperature. It concluded that the pre-treatment of crystallization was favorable for the efficient chain extension reaction and this result provided the new technology for the effective reuse of the plastics