The effects of additives in waste tire/plastic composites using internal mixer

Abstract

Environmental problems due to waste tire and waste plastics let us develop practical and economically feasible products. For this purpose, the characteristics of waste tire/plastic composites including various additives were examined using internal mixer. Experimental results indicated that the tensile strength and the flexural strength of waste tire/plastic composites decreased with the waste tire content. When 20 wt% of PP was added to the waste tire (60 wt%)/HDPE composites, the tensile strength was 1.5 times higher than the composite without PP. It was also found that the strain at break of composites increased by 2.5 times with 10 wt% addition of ethylene vinyl acetate and styrene ethylene butylenes styrene respectively. When 10 wt% of glass fiber was added to waste tire (60 wt%)/ HDPE composites, the tensile strength was 63% higher than the composite without glass fiber.