| Title: |
Integrated Approach to Eco-Friendly Thermoplastic Composites Based on Chemically Recycled PET Co-Polymers Reinforced with Treated Banana Fibres |
| Authors: |
Kuete, Martial; Van Velthem, Pascal; Ballout, Wael; Nysten, Bernard; Devaux, Jacques; Ndikontar, Maurice Kor; Pardoen, Thomas; Bailly, Christian |
| Contributors: |
UCL - SST/IMCN/BSMA - Bio and soft matter; University of Yaounde - Macromolecular Chemistry Unit; UCL - SST/IMMC/IMAP - Materials and process engineering |
| Source: |
Polymers, Vol. 14, no.22, p. 4791 (2022) |
| Publisher Information: |
MDPI AG |
| Publication Year: |
2022 |
| Collection: |
DIAL@USL-B (Université Saint-Louis, Bruxelles) |
| Subject Terms: |
PET; Recycling; Glycolysis; Solid-state polymerisation; composite; sustainability |
| Description: |
A major societal issue of disposal and environmental pollution is raised by the enormous and fast-growing production of single-use polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, especially in developing countries. To contribute to the problem solution, an original route to recycle PET in the form of value-added environmentally friendly thermoplastic composites with banana fibres (Musa acuminata) has been developed at the laboratory scale. Banana fibres are a so far undervalued by-product of banana crops with great potential as polymer reinforcement. The melt-processing constraints of commercial PET, including used bottles, being incompatible with the thermal stability limits use of natural fibres; PET has been modified with bio-sourced reactants to produce co-polymers with moderate processing temperatures below 200°C. First, commercial PET were partially glycolyzed with 1.3-propanediol to produce co-oligomers of about 20 repeating units, which were next chain extended with succinic anhydride and post-treated in a very unusual “soft solid state” process at temperatures in the vicinity of the melting point to generate co-polymers with excellent ductility. The molar mass build-up reaction is dominated by esterification of the chain ends and benefits from the addition of succinic anhydride to rebalance the acid-to-hydroxyl end-group ratio. Infra-red spectroscopy and intrinsic viscosity were extensively used to quantify the concentration of chain ends and the average molar mass of the co-polymers at all stages of the process. The best co-polymers are crystallisable, though at slow kinetics, with a Tg of 48°C and a melting point strongly dependent upon thermal history. The composites show high stiffness (4.8 GPa at 20% fibres), consistent with the excellent dispersion of the fibres and a very high interfacial cohesion. The strong adhesion can be tentatively explained by covalent bonding involving unreacted succinic anhydride in excess during solid stating. A first approach to quantify the sustainable benefits of this PET ... |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/UCLouvain/Conseil de l’Action Internationale/Coopération au Développements; boreal:267123; http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/267123 |
| DOI: |
10.3390/polym14224791 |
| Availability: |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/267123; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14224791 |
| Rights: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.F756FE08 |
| Database: |
BASE |