Abstract:

The blends of recycled polyethylene （rPE） and polyamide 6 （PA6） were prepared separately using a traditional twin?screw extruder and a novel eccentric rotor extruder. Their mechanical properties， thermal properties， dynamic thermomechanical behavior and microstructure were investigated. The results indicated that the young's modulus of the blends prepared with these two types of equipment increased significantly in the presence of PA6， but their elongation at break decreased sharply. The tensile strength of the blends prepared with the twin?screw extruder decreased slowly with an increase in the weight fraction of PA6， whereas the blends prepared with the eccentric rotor showed a decrease at first and then an increase in tensile strength. The two types of processing equipments had little effect on the crystallization and melting behaviors of the blends. The morphological analysis demonstrated that the blends prepared with the eccentric rotor extruder had better compatibility than that with the twin?screw extruder as confirmed by the difference between their glass transition temperatures. In conclusion， the eccentric rotor can generate a compulsory compatibilizing effect on the incompatible blending systems.

Key words: recycled polyethylene, eccentric rotor extruder, mechanical property, compatibility