Zinc Borate Composites Based on Recycled PVC Wastes Via Comparing Melt Mixing and Casting Procedures Under the Effect of Electron Beam Irradiation

Abstract

With the remarkable increase in whether heat in many countries, many scientific researchers aim to deal with this problem by developing polymeric materials that have good mechanical and thermal properties and are resistant to heat and fire. Polyvinyl chloride is used for decoration and construction materials. This article goals to the usage of waste polyvinyl chloride (WPVC) as based polymer composites containing zinc borate particles (ZnB) prepared via two different techniques equipped by melt mixing WPVC/ZnB (M) and casting WPVC/ZnB (C). The fabricated composites by the two methods were irradiated in an electron beam accelerator (EB) at 30 kGy. A comparative study of the mechanical, and thermal properties, as well as the rate of heat burning for the two methods, has been performed. Furthermore, activation energy calculation, FTIR, and XRD have been considered. The observed improvement in the mechanical, thermal, and flammability behavior of the samples was reached by the incorporation of ZnB particles and EB irradiation. Also, composites films prepared by melt mixing reveal superior properties than those equipped by casting for the most investigated factors.