Product design with glass fiber reinforced polymer blends, with potential applications in recycling

This paper addresses the issue of compositional variation in multiphase, multi‐component polymer mixtures equivalent to those found in commingled waste streams, such as those obtained from reclamation/recycling operations of post‐consumer containers. By using virgin resins, the effects of variations in the composition of matrices containing high density polyethylene (HDPE) as the major phase on the properties of composites containing varying amounts of glass fiber and different adhesion promoters are studied. The results obtained on injection molded thin‐section parts indicate that it is possible, through the addition of glass fibers and in the presence of suitable adhesion promoters, to obtain enhanced and reproducible properties with relatively little dependence on matrix composition. Preliminary structural and flow analyses were performed with commercial software on different types of plastic parts that could be eventually molded from actual mixed waste plastics suitably modified through glass reinforcement. Experimentally generated rheological and mechanical property data on HDPE based blends containing 20 wt% glass fibers and different adhesion promoters were used for the simulation. Issues concerned with injection molding and product performance of glass‐fiber reinforced blends are discussed.