THE EFFECTS OF THERMOPLASTIC OLEFIN (TPO) ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF RECYCLED POLYPROPYLENE (r-PP)

Polymers offer a wide range of properties that make them ideal for broad range of application. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to pull a polymer off the shelf that has all the required material properties. One solution to this problem is to add a second component to the polymer to create a new material with targeted properties. The materials, which were used in the project, were recycled polypropylene (r-PP) as the main material, the additive was thermoplastic olefin (TPO). The composition of the r-PP/TPO ranges from 99/1% to 96/4% Two processes were used, extrusion to compounding the two materials together, and injection molding to produce the specimens. The mechanical testing were tensile, flexural, impact, and physical property such as density. The results showed that there was an improvement of 5.16% in the tensile strength from neat r-PP to adding 4% of TPO to the r-PP, and improvement in flexural modulus 41.7% from neat r-PP to adding 4% of TPO, and improvement of 105% in the izod impact from neat r-PP by adding 4% TPO to r-PP, and a decreased in the density.