Mechanical Properties of Low-Density Polyethylene/Recycled Poly(ethylene Terephthalate) (LDPE/r-PET) Microfibrillar Composite

Blending can help improving mechanical properties of materials. It is a cheaper way to tailor mechanical properties of the material instead of polymerization. But, blending of immiscible polymers will result in low mechanical properties as there are no connections between the materials and the sphere shape of the polymer. So, microfibrillar composite (MFC) is produced by drawing process and act as reinforcement in the material. While compatibilizer helps in improving interfacial adhesion between the microfibrillar and matrix. So, with aid of reinforcement and compatibilizer, mechanical properties of the blend can be improved. Aim of this study is to see the effects of microfibrillar towards the mechanical properties of LDPE/r-PET composite and to study the effects of compatibilizer towards the mechanical properties of LDPE/r-PET composite. In this study, LDPE is used as the matrix and recycled PET (r-PET) was employed as the reinforcement. LDPE and r- PET is mixed using twin screw extruder and was drawn to produce the microfibrils. The blend is then compression moulded to produce specimens for mechanical tests. Tensile, flexural and impact tests are done base on ASTM D368, D790 and D256 respectively to study mechanical properties of the composite. Microfibrillar is proven to improve tensile strength of drawn LDPE/r-PET by 6% when compared with undrawn LDPE/r-PET and improve flexural strength by 13%. When comparing with pure LDPE, tensile strength of drawn LDPE/r-PET increased by 10% and flexural strength increased by 126%. Coupling agent managed to improve tensile strength of the undrawn LDPE/r-PET/Coupling agent composite by 12% compared than undrawn LDPE/r-PET and improve flexural strength by 21%. Compared to pure LDPE, tensile strength of drawn LDPE/r-PET increased by 18% while flexural strength increased by 155%. Impact strength of drawn LDPE/r-PET improved by 10% compared than undrawn LDPE/r-PET but it is reduced by 95% when compared to pure LDPE. For undrawn LDPE/r-PET/coupling agent specimen, impact strength improved by 9% compared to undrawn LDPE/r-PET but when compared to pure LDPE, impact strength value is decreased by 96