ABSTRACT
Waste from pneumatic wheels is one of the major environmental problems, and the scientific community is looking for methods to recycle this type of waste. In this paper, ground tire rubber particles (GTR) from disused tires have been mixed with samples of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and morphological tests have been performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as well as the dynamic electric analysis (DEA) dielectric characterization technique using impedance spectroscopy. From this experience, how GTR reinforcement influences polyethylene and what influence GTR particles have on the branched polyethylene has been detected. For pure LDPE samples, a Debye-type dielectric behavior is observed with an imperfect semicircle, which depends on the temperature, as it shows differences for the samples at 30 °C and 120 °C, unlike the HDPE samples, which do not show such a trend. The behavior in samples with Debye behavior is like an almost perfect dipole and is due to the crystalline behavior of polyethylene at high temperature and without any reinforcement. These have been obtained evidence that for branched PE (LPDE) the Maxwell Wagner Sillars (MWS) effect is highly remarkable and that this happens due to the intrachain polarization effect combined with MWS. This means that the permittivity and conductivity at LDPE/50%GTR are high than LDPE/70%GTR. However, it does not always occur that way with HDPE composites in which HDPE/70%GTR has the highest values of permittivity and conductivity, due to the presence of conductive fraction (Carbon Black-30%) in the GTR particles and their dielectric behavior.
ABSTRACT
The recycling and disposal of disused tires is a topic of great concern to today's companies, researchers, and society in general. In this sense, our research aims to recycle end-of-life tires (GTRs) through the separation of the fraction of vulcanized rubber from the other compounds in order to later grind this fraction and separate it into lower particle sizes. Finally, we aim to incorporate these GTR particles as a filler of an ethylene-polyethylene-diene monomer (EPDM). The obtained composites with EPDM and GTR are tested (5%, 10%, 20%) comparing these values with neat EPDM as a control sample. Thermal tests such as differential calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) as well as dielectric tests (DEA) are performed in order to characterize these materials and check their viability as dielectric or semiconductor, for industrial use. It is checked how the presence of GTR increases functional properties such as conductivity/permittivity. The influence of temperature (40 to 120 °C) and addition of GTR particles in electrical properties has also been analyzed. The dielectric behavior of these composites is fully characterized, analyzing the different types of relaxation with increasing frequency (10 mHz to 3 MHz), using the electric modulus, and Argand diagrams among other measures. The influence of GTR and temperature in the dielectric and thermal behavior of these materials has been analyzed, where CB of GTR creates interfacial polarization phenomena in the dielectric behavior of the composite and increases the permittivity (real and imaginary) as well as the conductivity. Finally, with these obtained properties, the possible application of EPDM/GTR composites as industrial dielectrics has been studied.
ABSTRACT
Currently, the huge use of tires generates large quantities of waste material which represents a severe environmental problem. The common technique used for processing waste tires is crushing using mechanical methods and separating tire components like fibers, metals, and rubber from the used tire. The aim of this research is the recycling of this rubber from crushed tires, called ground tire rubber (GTR). With this aim, the manuscript analyses key mechanical properties of the thermoplastic composites produced by blending of crushed and micronized small particles of waste rubber tires with several industrial thermoplastic polymers. These types of composites are defined based on the total amount GTR in percent by weight, in the composite, and also, the particle sizes used in each case, so these aforementioned two variables (microparticle size and amounts) along with seven common industrial polymers define a series of composites for which the mechanical properties were tested, studied, analyzed and finally presented. Finally, the results obtained show that this proposed recycling method could be a way to enhance some specific polymer properties and could contribute to reducing the total of end of life used tire stocks environmental problem.
