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Polymers
Special Issues
Recycling and Bio-Based Additives in Polymer and Composites Technology
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Recycling and Bio-Based Additives in Polymer and Composites Technology

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Analysis and Characterization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2021) | Viewed by 10617

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Krzysztof Formela

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Polymer Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, G. Narutowicza Str. 11/12, Gdańsk University of Technology, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland
Interests: plastics and rubber recycling; reactive processing; composites; polymer blends and composites compatibilization; bitumen modification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The dynamic development of polymers and their applications in a wide range of industry has caused the waste management of plastic and rubber materials to become a huge environmental, economic, and social problem.
Recent advances in environmentally friendly polymers and polymer composites seem to represent a promising approach to resolve this problem.
This Special Issue presents a collection of original research and reviews focused on laboratory and industrial scale solutions to the sustainable development of recycling and bio-based additives in polymer and composites technology.

Selected example topics include the following:

  • Low-cost, pro-ecological, and industrially applicable polymeric materials;
  • Strategies for the compatibilization and functionalization of polymers modified by recycling products or bio-based additives;
  • Waste plastic and rubber management technologies;
  • Trends and limitations in the development of plastic and rubber recycling;
  • Structure–property relationships in novel environmentally friendly polymeric materials.

Dr. Krzysztof Formela
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • recycling
  • waste management
  • bio-based additives
  • environmentally friendly materials
  • compatibilization
  • structure–property relationship

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 7450 KiB  
Article
Processing, Performance Properties, and Storage Stability of Ground Tire Rubber Modified by Dicumyl Peroxide and Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate Copolymers
by Paulina Wiśniewska, Łukasz Zedler and Krzysztof Formela
Polymers 2021, 13(22), 4014; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym13224014 - 20 Nov 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2707
Abstract
In this paper, ground tire rubber was modified with dicumyl peroxide and a variable content (in the range of 0–15 phr) of ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers characterized by different vinyl acetate contents (in the range of 18–39 wt.%). Modification of ground tire rubber was [...] Read more.
In this paper, ground tire rubber was modified with dicumyl peroxide and a variable content (in the range of 0–15 phr) of ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers characterized by different vinyl acetate contents (in the range of 18–39 wt.%). Modification of ground tire rubber was performed via an auto-thermal extrusion process in which heat was generated during internal shearing of the material inside the extruder barrel. The processing, performance properties, and storage stability of modified reclaimed ground tire rubber were evaluated based on specific mechanical energy, infrared camera images, an oscillating disc rheometer, tensile tests, equilibrium swelling, gas chromatography combined with a flame ionization detector, and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. It was found that the developed formulas of modified GTR allowed the preparation of materials characterized by tensile strengths in the range of 2.6–9.3 MPa and elongation at break in the range of 78–225%. Moreover, the prepared materials showed good storage stability for at least three months and satisfied processability with commercial rubbers (natural rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling and Bio-Based Additives in Polymer and Composites Technology)
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13 pages, 5949 KiB  
Article
Poultry Feather Waste as Bio-Based Cross-Linking Additive for Ethylene Propylene Diene Rubber
by Markus Brenner and Oliver Weichold
Polymers 2021, 13(22), 3908; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym13223908 - 12 Nov 2021
Viewed by 1954
Abstract
Most rubbers used today rely on sulphur as a cross-linking agent and carbon black from fossil resources to modify the mechanical properties. A very promising substitute can be found in natural keratins such as feathers. These are not only tough, but also contain [...] Read more.
Most rubbers used today rely on sulphur as a cross-linking agent and carbon black from fossil resources to modify the mechanical properties. A very promising substitute can be found in natural keratins such as feathers. These are not only tough, but also contain a relevant amount of sulphur in the form of disulphide bridges. The present study shows that these can be activated under vulcanisation conditions and then bind covalently to EPDM rubber to form a cross-linked network. Feathers were cut into lengths of 0.08, 0.2, and 1 mm and incorporated at 38, 69, or 100 phr into EPDM mixtures containing either no carbon black or no carbon black nor sulphur. The presence of feather cuttings increases the tensile and compressive strength as well as the hardness, and reduces the rebound resilience. Due to their high (approximately 17%) nitrogen content, the feathers also improve the thermal stability of the composite, as the main degradation step is shifted from 400 °C to 470 °C and the decomposition is significantly slowed down. Since elastomers are a large market and feathers in particular are a high-volume waste, the combination of these two offers enormous ecological and economic prospects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling and Bio-Based Additives in Polymer and Composites Technology)
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23 pages, 5556 KiB  
Article
Effect of a Natural Processing Aid on the Properties of Acrylonitrile-Butadiene Rubber: Study on Soybean Oil Fatty Acid from Seed Crop
by Phattarawadee Nun-Anan, Chesidi Hayichelaeh and Kanoktip Boonkerd
Polymers 2021, 13(20), 3459; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym13203459 - 09 Oct 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2099
Abstract
For the industrial production of rubber, one of the key ingredients is a processing aid. It not only facilitates the processability but also tunes the final properties of the resultant rubber. In general, for a polar rubber like acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR), the processing [...] Read more.
For the industrial production of rubber, one of the key ingredients is a processing aid. It not only facilitates the processability but also tunes the final properties of the resultant rubber. In general, for a polar rubber like acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR), the processing aids earning the most attention are synthesized from petroleum, such as dioctyl phthalate (DOP). However, due to their toxicity, many rubber chemists have tried to find alternative chemicals that are environmentally friendly and derived from a renewable resource. In this research, we investigated the effects of the soybean oil fatty acid (SBOFA), synthesized in house via hydrolysis of SBO, on the properties of NBR in comparison with DOP. Initially, it was found that the addition of SBOFA improved the flowability of the NBR compound, as indicated by the progressive decrease in the Mooney viscosity with increasing levels of SBOFA. The results from various techniques indicated that the crosslink density of the NBR vulcanizates passed through the maximum at the SBOFA loading of 4 phr. Upon loading SBOFA up to 4 phr, there was no significant deterioration in the mechanical strength of the SBOFA-plasticized NBR vulcanizates. Typically, the presence of SBOFA at 4 phr enhanced the thermal resistance of the NBR vulcanizate by shifting the thermal decomposition to a higher temperature. At a given loading, it was found that the SBOFA-plasticized NBR vulcanizate showed a comparable plasticizing efficiency and mechanical strength with the DOP-plasticized one. The result from this study shows that SBOFA is a good alternative sustainable eco-friendly processing aid to use for NBR. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling and Bio-Based Additives in Polymer and Composites Technology)
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19 pages, 2865 KiB  
Article
Reactive Sintering of Ground Tire Rubber (GTR) Modified by a Trans-Polyoctenamer Rubber and Curing Additives
by Łukasz Zedler, Daria Kowalkowska-Zedler, Xavier Colom, Javier Cañavate, Mohammad Reza Saeb and Krzysztof Formela
Polymers 2020, 12(12), 3018; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym12123018 - 17 Dec 2020
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2867
Abstract
The proposed method of ground tire rubber (GTR) utilization involves the application of trans-polyoctenamer rubber (TOR), a commercially available waste rubber modifier. The idea was to investigate the influence of various curing additives (sulfur, N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazole sulfenamide (CBS), dibenzothiazole disulfide (MBTS) and di-(2-ethyl)hexylphosphorylpolysulfide (SDT)) [...] Read more.
The proposed method of ground tire rubber (GTR) utilization involves the application of trans-polyoctenamer rubber (TOR), a commercially available waste rubber modifier. The idea was to investigate the influence of various curing additives (sulfur, N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazole sulfenamide (CBS), dibenzothiazole disulfide (MBTS) and di-(2-ethyl)hexylphosphorylpolysulfide (SDT)) on curing characteristics, physico-mechanical, thermal, acoustic properties as well as the morphology of modified GTR, in order to evaluate the possibility of reclaiming GTR and the co-cross-linking between applied components. The results showed that the presence of the modifier without the addition of curing additives hinders the physico-mechanical properties of revulcanized GTR. The addition of SDT, CBS, MBTS and sulfur change the melting kinetics of TOR, indicating partial degradation and/or co-cross-linking between components. In the studied conditions, the best mechanical properties were obtained by the samples cured with sulfur. The morphology analysis, combined with the physico-mechanical results, indicated that when the surface of the GTR is more developed, obtained by the addition of TOR, the properties of the GTR improve. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling and Bio-Based Additives in Polymer and Composites Technology)
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