Material CharacterisationCharacterization of pp/regenerated tire-rubber blends using proton spin-lattice relaxation time

Proton spin-lattice relaxation time (T1H) in the solid state was used to determine the molecular mobility of PP/regenerated tire-rubber blends (PP/RgR), employing low-field NMR. The blends were prepared with different quantities of regenerated rubber (5, 10, 15 and 20 wt%). The addition of 5 wt% maleic anhydride functionalized polypropylene (PP-g-MAH) was carried out to evaluate the processing behavior of the reclaimed material. Important differences were observed concerning the molecular mobility according to the content of regenerated rubber. A decrease in the relaxation time of the blends with an increase in PP-g-MAH content indicates that enhanced mobility of PP/regenerated tire-rubber blends was obtained and, thus, PP-g-MAH acts as a plasticizer and/or impact modified.