Mechanical properties of recycled polymers

Modifications of structure and morphology of the polymers induced by the th ermomechanical stress (or by the presence of water for some polymers) durin g reprocessing can cause a drastic deterioration of mechanical properties o f the recycled material. The property - reprocessing relationships are an i mportant tool to determine not only the properties of the recycled polymers but also the strategies to use (processing conditions, stabilizers, filler s, compatibilizers, etc) in order to obtain recycled polymers with good mec hanical properties. In this work, typical behaviour of some mechanical prop erties as a function of the number of reprocessing operations is discussed and correlated with their structure and morphology. The influences of the t ype of apparatus and of the processing conditions are also considered.