Maksim Antonov

The circularity of polymer waste is an emerging field of research in Europe. In the present research, the thermal, surface, mechanical, and tribological properties of polypropylene (PP)-based composite produced by injection molding were studied. The pure PP matrix was reinforced with 10, 30, and 40% wt. of pure cotton, synthetic polyester, and polyethylene terephthalate post-consumer fibers using a combination of direct extrusion and injection molding techniques. Results indicate that PP-PCPESF-10% wt. exhibits the highest value of tensile strength (29 MPa). However, the values of tensile and flexural strain were lowered with an increase in fiber content due to the presence of micro-defects. Similarly, the values of modulus of elasticity, flexural modulus, flexural strength, and impact energy were enhanced due to an increase in the amount of fiber. The PP-PCCF-40% wt. shows the highest values of flexural constant (2780 MPa) and strength (57 MPa). Additionally, the increase in fiber loadings is directly proportional to the creation of micro-defects, surface roughness, abrasive wear, coefficient of friction, and erosive wear. The lowest average absolute arithmetic surface roughness value (Ra) of PP and PP-PCCF, 10% wt., were 0.19 µm and 0.28 µm. The lowest abrasive wear value of 3.09 × 10−6 mm3/Nm was found for pure PP. The erosive wear value (35 mm3/kg) of PP-PCCF 40% wt. composite material was 2 to 17 times higher than all other composite materials. Finally, the single-step analysis of variance predicts reasonable results in terms of the p-values of each composite material for commercial applications.

Cotton, polyester, and polyethylene terephthalate are the most common types of polymers that produce huge wastes. The circularity of these post-consumer (PC) waste faces operational problems during processing. In this innovative research, the relationship between circularity, surface characterization, mechanical and tribological testing of fiber reinforced (cotton, polyester), and particulate (polyethylene terephthalate) composites is explored for industrial pilot production. Cutting model can control the size of fibers during grinding. The fiber reinforced composites (FRCs) with 10% (by weight) fiber loadings are found as operational candidates for structural, automotive, and medical applications due to suitable tensile strength (26–29 MPa), percentage of extension (10%) and abrasive wear (3 × 10 −6 mm 3 /Nm). An increase in fiber content produces micro-defects like asperities, rough areas, voids, cracks, and pits in recycled composites. Therefore, the particulate and FRCs with 40% (by weight) fiber loadings become hard and brittle. However, these composites (especially with 40% wt. fiber loadings) exhibit reasonable elastic modulus (1526–2751 MPa) and abrasive wear (6.5 × 10 −6 mm 3 /Nm). The ductile to brittle transition effect has appeared in all composites (with 30% wt. fiber content) due to continuous fiber addition, micro-defects creation and dual phase presence. In conclusion, natural and synthetic PC wastes can be utilized for sustainable processing of commercial polymer composites. Moreover, injection molding, polymer characterization, tensile testing, abrasion evaluation, and regression analysis can be introduced for the transformation of open-loop into closed-loop manufacturing.