Effect of Comonomers Composition on Tensile Properties of UV-Cured Acrylated Urethane-Oligoesters Derived from Poly (Ethylene Terephthalate) PET Waste.

Abstract

Medhat S. Farahat Khedr

PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is a semicrystalline polymer which is characterized by its chemical resistance and bearing and wear properties. PET is often used for food processing machinery applications where low moisture absorption, low thermal expansion, resistance to staining, or resistance to cleaning chemicals is required. The chemical degradation process of PET waste by glycolysis reaction produces a potential starting material for many applications due to the chemical reactivity of their terminal hydroxyl groups that can be converted into various functional groups to produce versatile value-added products. Glycolyzed products of PET are oligoesters with terminal hydroxyl groups which can be modified into different reactive functional groups to produce linear and crosslinked polymers with excellent mechanical properties. The trend of utilizing the glycolyzed PET oligoesters in many applications provides a potential chemical route for recycling PET waste. In this study, PET was first depolymerized by glycolysis reaction and the obtained hydroxyl terminated oligoesters were reacted with half equivalent molar amount of toluene di-isocyanate TDI to convert it to hydroxyl terminated urethane-oligoester. The hydroxyl terminal groups were eventually modified into acrylate functional groups by acrylation reaction. The acrylated urethane-oligoesters were copolymerized with various acrylate, methacrylate and styrene monomers and cured by UV curing reaction and tested for their tensile properties. The measured tensile properties for samples in this work showed promising results for this new application of the glycolyzed products of PET waste.

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