Mechanical Properties of Composites of HDPE and Recycled Tire Crumb

For a purpose of recycling of waste tires, composites of 10-60wt% recycled tire crumb blended with high density polyethylene(HDPE) were prepared, and their mechanical properties such as tensile strength, elongation at break, tensile modulus and impact strength were investigated as a function of tire crumb content. Ethylene-acrylic acid(EAA) copolymer was introduced by 10phr as a compatibilizer and the mechanical properties of the composites were measured. For the blend composition of 40wt% tire crumb content showing improved impact strength, the mechanical properties were measured by varying the EAA content of 5-15phr. All blends, whether modified or unmodified, showed a gradual improvement in impact strength as the tire crumb content increased, but the other properties decreased compared with the pure HDPE. In particular, the addition of EAA copolymer to the tire crumb content over 30wt% showed substantial improvement in impact strength. There was no significant effect of tire crumb size on impact strength of the composites.