Building blend from recycling acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene and high impact-resistance polystyrene through dextro-glucose

• Published in: Reactive & functional polymers 2022-06, Vol.175, p.105287, Article 105287
• Main Authors: Dong, Xing, Dong, Mengyao, Li, Yingchun, Li, Zhimao, Wang, Wensheng, Cao, Nuo, Mahmoud, Khaled H., El-Bahy, Salah M., El-Bahy, Zeinhom M., Huang, Mina, Guo, Zhanhu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ABS resins; Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene; Blend recycling; Chemical properties; Composite materials; Dextrose; Flexural strength; Glucose; High impact-resistance polystyrene; Hydroxyl groups; Impact resistance; Impact strength; Mechanical properties; Melt blending; Molecular chains; Plastic shells; Polystyrene; Polystyrene resins; Recycling; Storage modulus; Styrenes; Tensile strength
• ISSN: 1381-5148; 1873-166X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.reactfunctpolym.2022.105287

As the constantly upgrading of electronic product, and the number of plastic shells of waste electronic products is also increasing sharply. Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and high impact-resistance polystyrene (HIPS) account for a large part, but ABS and HIPS not only have similar densities, but also have similar chemical properties, which make it difficult to separate ABS and HIPS. Therefore, the preparation of composite materials by blending waste ABS and waste HIPS is an important method to realize the high-value reuse of waste ABS and waste HIPS. In this work, d-glucose (d-Glucose) was used as a compatibilizing agent for the first time to modify recycling acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (rABS) and recycling high impact-resistance polystyrene (rHIPS) by melt blending. The d-Glucose has multiple hydroxyl groups, and it can react with the aging groups of butadiene in rABS/rHIPS to form ester groups, repairs broken molecular chains and improves compatibility between two phases to enhance the mechanical properties. The results show that the impact strength, tensile strength, flexural strength and storage modulus of the resulted rABS/rHIPS blend have been enhanced. When added the number of d-Glucose accounts for 5 wt% of the total components, the notched impact strength reaches 9.67 kJ/m2, which is 128% higher than that before modification. Compared with other researchers, not only the impact strength is greatly improved, but also the tensile strength and flexural strength are improved. The mechanisms for the enhancement is studied and discussed. [Display omitted] •Blending and modifying the common waste plastics ABS and HIPS in WEEE.•For the first time, d-Glucose was used to blend and modify waste plastics.•There is no need to sort waste ABS and HIPS, and directly modify both of them.•All mechanical properties have been improved after modified.•The process is simple and the formula is cheap to achieve high-value recycling.