Modification of Rheological Properties of Poly(ethylene terephthalate) by Reactive Processing in Presence of Nano-CaCO3

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is degraded during processing and a large loss in engineering properties is observed when PET products are recycled. To overcome this problem, various types of chain extenders and nanoparticles were used. This work investigates the use of triphenyl phosphite (TPP) as a chain extender in Presence of Nano-calcium carbonate (nano-CaCO3). TPP reacts with PET end-groups to rejoin the polymer chain broken during processing. Compounds with 3 and 5 wt% of TPP were processed in presence and absence of 3 wt% nano-CaCO3 and the influence of TPP content and nano-CaCO3 on the rheological properties, microstructure and melting/crystallization behavior were investigated

Keywords:

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) , triphenyl phosphite , nano-calcium carbonate , reactive processing