Mechanical Properties of Renewable Polymer with Thermoplastics Endurance to Ultraviolet irradiation Exposure

Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing, University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Parit Raja, 86400, Batu Pahat, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: nurulsyamimisalim@gmail.com

Abstract

At present the disposal of waste tyre rubber (WTR) has become a major waste management problem in the world. Therefore in this study, polymer blended based on Polyethylene which is Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) or High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), with Renewable Polymer (RP) and waste tyre rubber (WTR) is prepared via injection molding. Blended polymer such as LDPE/RP/WTR and HDPE/RP/WTR is known as LRT and HRT respectively. The preparation of polymer blend steps start with the preparation of RP. The RP is prepared by crosslinking the renewable monomer with Polymethane Polyphenyl Isocyanate (MDI) at composition ratio of 1:0.5. The second steps involved by adding 10 gm of liquid RP prepared earlier on with fixed amount of LDPE and HDPE of 100 gm. Then the blended LDPE/RP or HDPE/RP namely as LR or HR respectively is further added with WTR with different percentages ratio of 5 %, 10 % and 15 %. The manually blended polymer mixture and filler is then melt mixing using injection moulding to fabricate the tensile specimen for mechanical tensile test and physical determination such as density, distribution of WTR in polymer blend and surface fracture morphology using scanning electron microscope. The samples were then exposed to UV irradiation exposure in UV Accelerated Weathering for 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 and 3000 hours to evaluate the photostability of the polymer blends. The optimum amount of WTR ratio composition is at 5 % for both LRT and HRT blends which indicate the stability of polymer blends towards UV irradiation exposure at 1000 hours.