International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

The paper presents research on the physical processing properties and morphology of recycled plastics. The scope of work includes conducting the processing of primary PVC and recycled PVC and testing Melt Flow Index and structural investigation of the morphology of materials. In the studies polyvinyl chloride (PVC) Alfavinyl GFM/4-31, was used in the study. This plastic has density of 1230 kg/m3 and hardness of 80 Sh° A. In the experiments, various types of chemical blowing agents were used: Expancel 950 MB80 manufactured by Akzo Nobel. Expancel is a mixture that contains 65 % microspheres in the copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate (EVA). The decomposition products of the applied blowing agents mainly include carbon dioxide CO2, a small amount of water H2O and nitrogen N2. The technology for producing the recycled composition is based on the extrusion and compression technology of the compositions obtained. The study of selected physical properties was produced. The research on the structure of manufactured materials, melt flow index MFI, and macroscopic structure are presented.

In this study, the thermal and structural changes were observed in polyvinylchloride / graphene oxide (PVC/GO) composites in different amounts of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 1 wt.%. To this aim, GO was prepared from natural graphite by Hummers method. XRD results of GO indicated that the interlayer distance increased from 0.33 nm to 0.88 nm. Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis results showed that oxygen content increased from 22.59 % to 47.95 % after the oxidation process. These features suggested that the GO sample, mainly oxygen-containing functional groups, was oxidized. PVC/GO composites were prepared by colloidal blending. XRD results of all composites indicated the GO layers well-dispersed in polymer matrix. SEM analysis revealed that the composites with 0.1 and 0.5 wt. % GO filler exhibited a uniform composite with highly porous and micro porous morphology respectively. TGA and DSC analysis showed that the use of minimum amount of GO in PVC matrix did not provide an important improvement on the thermal stability of the examined composites.