Comportamento reológico do Bio-PE e do PCL na presença do PEgAA e PEgMA

Abstract

The torque rheometer is equipment that enables to simulate the polymer processing in a laboratory scale. A set of parameters, i.e., rotor speed, temperature and processing time are predefined and imposed to the com-pounds under analysis. The necessary torque for melting and mixing the compound is measured. Through the plots of torque as a function of time and temperature, which are linked to the rheological properties, micro-structure and molar weight of the samples, it is possible to acquire information regarding the flow behavior of polymers, meaning during processing. In this work, the effect of acrylic acid-grafted polyethylene (PEgAA) and maleic anhydride-grafted polyethylene (PEgMA) in bio-polyethylene (Bio-PE) and in poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) was performed by torque rheometry. PEgAA and PEgMA increased the torque rheome-try values of the polymeric systems under investigation, i.e, Bio-PE/PEgAA, Bio-PE/PEgMA, PCL/PEgAA and PCL/PEgMA, possibly due to chemical interaction and/or reactions occurred during the processing. FTIR spectra presented possible interactions and/or chemical reactions between the functional groups of grafted polymers and Bio-PE and PCL. Higher torques were observed for the systems with similar solubility parameters agreeing with the mathematical calculations provided by Hansen.