Understanding Structure–Property Relationships of Polyolefin Blends

Project Description

The ample supply of plastic waste and the challenges inherent to plastic sorting and repurposing provides a rationale to explore upcycling as an end-of-life solution. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and isotactic polypropylene (iPP) are two of the highest volume commodity polymers and are often comingled in recycling streams due to their chemical similarity. Typically, polymer blends of these two materials form brittle composites. Reactive compatibilization of HDPE and iPP is challenging due to the chain scission of iPP during functionalization reactions. Our lab has recently introduced amide reagents that can functionalization both HDPE and iPP without chain degradation, which opens new avenues to reactive compatibilization strategies. Preliminary data shows a dramatic improvement in mechanical properties upon reactive compatibilization using these amide reagents. In order to identify the underlying morphological changes induced by polymer functionalization, this BioPACIFIC MIP project seeks to characterization polyolefin blends through comprehensive x-ray scattering experiments, which will provide an understanding of the nanoscale features of the polymer blend and enable the identification of quantitative structure–property relationships.

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