Development of polypropylene/polyethylene terephthalate microfibrillar composites filament to support waste management

Abstract

The concept of microfibrillar composites (MFCs) is adopted to produce composites of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fiber-reinforced polypropylene (PP) materials. The two polymers were dry mixed with PET content ranging from 22 to 45 wt%. The PET has been used as a reinforcement to improve the mechanical properties of composites. The relationship between the morphology of the MFC structure and the mechanical behavior of the MFC filament was investigated. Analysis of the structure and mechanical behavior helped to understand the influence of the stretching ratio, extruder-melt temperature, stretching-chamber temperature, and filament speed.