Title of Publication Edited by

FRAY INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM, 2011

HARDNESS AND IMPACT FRACTURE BEHAVIOR OF

POLYPROPYLENE, POLYSTYRENE AND POLYVINYL CHLORIDE
BLENDED WITH THE CORRESPONDING RECYCLED MATERIAL

O. A. Barrera1, D. M. Marulanda1, M. A. Perez1, L.E. Parra1, E. O. Inchima1, J. L. Rubiano1

1
Group of Research in Energy and Materials (REM), Antonio Nariño University, Street 20 south,
13-61, Bogotá city - Colombia

Keywords: polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polymer recycling, PP, PS, PVC

ABSTRACT

The increasing use of polymeric materials and the subsequent solid waste generation has led to
the necessity of controlling the environmental impact through the polymer recycling process. The
aim of this work was to make virgin polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) blended with their corresponding recycling material (100/0, 84/16, 68/32, 50/50,
34/66, 18/82, 0/100) via injection molding, and evaluate their hardness and impact fracture
behavior. The impact testing method was Charpy impact test as for hardness measurement
hardness Shore D method was used. For all the cases hardness increased when increasing the
recycled material percentage, as the contrary behavior was observed for impact strengths. These
results suggest that the recycled material percentage has direct influence on mechanical
properties of virgin polymers.

INTRODUCTION

In these days, polymer recycling processes are focused on sustainable development projects that
seek to preserve the environment, decrease natural resources depletion, promote the use of
alternative energies that control environmental impact, and create human conscience. In polymer
recycling, several aspects have to be taken into account such as color, cleanness, classification,
1
presentation and transparency among others . In addition, polymer properties should be kept or
improved in order to permit their use in other applications. Amongst these properties, the
mechanical ones are of great interest because of the higher number of applications available.

Recently, a number of investigations have been performed regarding impact and tensile
mechanical properties of recycled polyethylene1 and different blended materials with their
2,4
corresponding recycled material including PET, HDPE, PVC, PP and PS . Thermal properties
and chemical structure of different recycled polymers such as PP, PE, polyASA and PVC have
also been studied3.
The aim of this work was to make virgin polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) blended with their corresponding recycling material in different percentages
(100/0, 84/16, 68/32, 50/50, 34/66, 18/82, 0/100) via injection molding, and evaluate the effect
of recycled material percentage on hardness and impact fracture behavior.
 EXPERIMENTAL

Materials

Three types of polymers, polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC),
were used in this investigation in granular form, whose typical properties are listed in table 1.

Table I Typical properties of polymers used in this work

3
Polymer Density (kg/m ) Yield stress Elastic modulus
(MPa) (MPa)
PP 900 30-40 1200-1550
PS 10-35 -- --
PVC -- 40-60 2500-3000

Sample preparation

Samples used in this study were virgin PP, PS and PVC blended with their corresponding
recycled material by varying its proportion virgin/recycled in the following way: 100/0, 84/16,
68/32, 50/50, 34/66, 18/82, 0/100. An injection mould designed especially for producing the
samples was used in an injection moulding machine type A. Time and velocity of injection were
fixed as a function of materials characteristics (type/grade), complexity of moulded piece and
moulding type (feeding system).

Mechanical tests
5
Dimensions of the Charpy impact test samples were 12x12x127 mm, complying with NTC 943
and ASTM D6110-106 standards, with a type V notch (45°, 0.25 mm radius, 1.8 mm depth), as
shown in figure 1. Seven impact tests were performed for each combination of virgin/recycled
material according to the standard used. Measurement carried out was the sample absorbed
energy (Ea). The energy for fracture was calculated as a function of angle between hammer arm
and a vertical line from arm axis. Energy absorbed in function of this angle is represented
through the following equation7:
=[cos − cos ] (1)

(
) (
)

Where α is the angle at the initial position (before impact), β is the angle at the final position
(after impact), M is the hammer mass, g is gravity acceleration, L is the arm length and Ea is the
energy absorbed by the sample in impact.

8
When using ISO standard, Charpy impact results are expressed in kJ/m2 units . On the other
7
hand, when using ASTM standard, impact test results are given in J/m units . According to this,
impact strength (K) was calculated dividing Ea by the distance measured from the sample base to
the V notch9 using the following expression10:
Impact strength (K) = Energy absorbed [J] (2)
thickness [m]

Shore D hardness tests were performed using a PTC 511A Shore D durometer hardness tester.
All the results are the average of 16 indentations carried out on the same impact test samples.
 Detail

Figure 1. Dimensions of Charpy impact test samples

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Impact and hardness tests results are show on figures 2, 3 and 4 for PP, PS and PVC respectively.
For the case of polypropylene, impact data did not show a clear tendency, which could be due to
irregular injections. In addition, there is not a noteworthy variation on impact strength which
could be concluded because of the minimum and maximum values obtained (0.57 J/cm and 0.63
J/cm respectively). Hardness showed a slight increase when increasing recycled material content,
but again this increase was not significant, increasing from 69.3 to a maximum value of 74.2
(shore D), obtained for a recycled material percentage of 82% (Figure 2).

0,70 75
a)
D)

0,65
Impact Strength (J/cm)
72
(Shore
Hardnes

0,60
s

69
0,55 66

0,50 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 63

-10 110
Recycled material (%)
Figure 2. Variation of impact strength and hardness with recycled material composition for
polypropylene blends.
For polystyrene blends (Figure 3), impact strength variation was a little bit remarkably,
decreasing from 1.6 J/cm to 0.6 J/cm when increasing recycled material content. Hardness
showed again a tendency to increase with recycled material content, and this tendency was
associated to the decrease in impact strength. Polyvinyl chloride blends showed greater variation
on both impact strength and hardness. Impact strength decreased from a value of 14.07 J/cm for
virgin PVC to 1.08 J/cm for 100% recycled PVC, as hardness increased from 42.48 shore D to
77.5 shore D. This higher increase in hardness could be due to the stiff characteristic of recycled
11,12
PVC, in comparison with soft virgin PVC which is more elastic . This also produces an
increase in brittleness and hence a decrease in impact strength.

2,0 90
1,8

D)
1,6

Impact Strength (J/cm) 80

(Shore
1,4

Hardness
1,2

0,8
1,0 70

0,6

0,4 60

-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110

Recycled material (%)
Figure 3. Variation of impact strength and hardness with recycled material composition for
polystyrene blends.

15 80 D)
12 70

Impact Strength (J/cm)

Hardness (Shore

60

6
3 50

0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 40

-10 110
Recycled material (%)
Figure 4. Variation of impact strength and hardness with recycled material composition for
polyvinyl chloride blends.

For the three cases, an increase in hardness when increasing recycled material from 0% to 66%
was observed, and beyond this point the increase was almost constant. This behavior could be
due to the stiffness of recycled material which has more effect when increasing its content within
the blend.
 CONCLUSIONS

In this work, impact strength and hardness measurements were performed on samples produced
by moulding injection from virgin/recycled PP, PS and PVC polymer blends, varying the
recycled material content. For the case of PP blends, the recycled material content had no
significant effect on polymer properties. This could be due to a low contamination of the
recycled material. However, this should be confirmed through additional measurements of
chemical composition. For the case of PS and PVC blends, a more remarkable effect was
observed, increasing hardness when increasing recycled material content, which was associated
to a decrease in impact strength. This effect could be related to chemical composition of the
recycled material, which again should be confirmed to additional measurements.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Universidad Antonio Nariño in the
development of this research.

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