Modification of waste polypropylene with waste rubber dust from textile cot industry and its characterization

Waste plastics collected from municipality solid waste (MSW), were segregated, washed and dried. The fractions consisting predominantly of polypropylene were further segregated from the lot, cleaned and dried. These were chopped into pieces and then mixed in a Brabender Plasticoder with rubber dust from rubber textile cot industry at various proportions, till homogeneity is achieved. The tensile strength, impact strength and flexural strength of the blends were measured and observed that these properties increasing with increase in loading of rubber dust, reach a maximum at 10 wt% and then decreases. The dynamic mechanical properties of blends such as storage modulus, loss modulus and tan S measured by DMA-2980 shows an increase in damping characteristics with an increase in the proportion of rubber dust. The rubber dust consists of blends of NBR and PVC used in making textile cots in the textile industry after vulcanization. It is observed that 10% of rubber dust imparts better strength properties with waste PP. The dispersion of the scrap rubber dust in PP has been analysed under SEM and its compatibility has been studied.