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Waste ABS plastics used in electrical packaging appliances: regeneration and properties

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Abstract

The high recycling value of waste acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene plastics (wABS) has attracted extensive attention over the recent decades. In this paper, macromolecular chain healing was successfully achieved by melt blending, in which chain extender was used to extend the chain in situ between carboxyl group in wABS and hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB). Various characterization techniques were applied to study the structures and properties of modified wABS samples, including torque rheometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, capillary rheometry, mechanical property testing, dynamic mechanical analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). When HTPB content was1.0% (wt), the equilibrium torque and notch impact strength of wABS/HTPB were observed to increase by 7% and 11% in comparison with recycled ABS. The results also demonstrated that HTPB played an important role in enhancing the thermal stability of wABS, especially in the range of 200–370 °C. A similar observation was noted during the evaluation of apparent viscosity, storage modulus, and loss modulus. Besides, SEM images confirmed that the peeling degree of the polybutadiene phase in the modified wABS was reduced after etching, and the binding force of the two phases of wABS was enhanced. This work may provide a new technical approach for the regeneration and modification of wABS.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21171004, 21976003), Anhui Province Academic Technology Leader Training Funded Projects, the Key Technologies Research and Development Program of Anhui Province (No. 17030901105), Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (No. 1708085QE120), Major Project of Natural Science Research in Colleges and Universities of Anhui Province (No. KJ2019ZD51) and the University Synergy Innovation Program of Anhui Province (No. GXXT-2019-017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials and Chemical Engineering, Anhui Key Laboratory of Advanced Building Materials, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230601, People’s Republic of China

    Qingxia Ye, Zhen Li, Jin Liu, Di Wang, Ping Wang, Xianbiao Wang & Xianhai Hu

  2. School of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230601, People’s Republic of China

    Zhen Li & Jin Liu

Authors
  1. Qingxia Ye
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  2. Zhen Li
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  3. Jin Liu
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  4. Di Wang
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  5. Ping Wang
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  6. Xianbiao Wang
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  7. Xianhai Hu
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Contributions

QY: conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing; ZL: data curation; JL: methodology; writing—review and editing; DW: writing-review and editing; PW: investigation; XW: supervision; XH: validation.

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Correspondence to Zhen Li.

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Ye, Q., Li, Z., Liu, J. et al. Waste ABS plastics used in electrical packaging appliances: regeneration and properties. Iran Polym J 30, 445–452 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13726-020-00880-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13726-020-00880-y

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