Enhanced rigidity of recycled polypropylen from packaging waste by compounding with talc and high crystallinity polypropylene

Abstract

Polypropylene (PP) constituted 30% of the collected material in a Swedish collection system for rigid plastic packaging waste. The PP fraction was however a complex mixture of grades with widely different properties. In order to enhance the rigidity of the recycled PP, modified grades were prepared by compounding with talc and/or a virgin high-crystallinity PP grade. Adding 20-40% of high-crystallinity PP enhanced the stiffness and yield strength without impairing the impact resistance. A composite material consisting of 20% of this grade, 20% talc and 60% recycled PP gave mechanical properties similar to those of a commercial talc-filled PP compound used for demanding engineering applications. The present study demonstrates that recycled PP derived from post-consumer packaging waste can also be made useful for demanding engineering applications. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.