Properties of Recycled Polypropylene/Chloroprene Rubber Blends: The Effects of Dynamic Vulcanisation

This work examined the tensile, thermal, morphology and swelling properties of unvulcanised and dynamically vulcanised recycled polypropylene (RPP)/chloroprene rubber (CR) blends at different blend ratios. The results indicated that the tensile strength and Young's modulus of both the unvulcanised and dynamically vulcanised RPP/CR blends were reduced. However, elongation at the breaking point increased with increasing CR content. In contrast, the dynamic vulcanisation enhanced the tensile properties, melting temperature (T^sub m^), enthalpy (ΔH^sub f^) and crystallinity (X^sub b^) in comparison with the unvulcanised RPP/CR blends. The swelling percentage of the dynamically vulcanised RPP/CR blends was lower than the unvulcanised blends due to the presence of crosslinks after the dynamic vulcanisation occurred.