To improve the performance and application value of recycled plastics, filling modification has been widely used in waste plastic reinforcement. In this study, recycled polyethylene (RPE) was reinforced via extrusion blending using waste polyester fiber (WPF) from a waste silk wadding quilt as a reinforcer. The effects of the amount of WPF on the mechanical properties, the thermal stability of RPE and the microstructure of the RPE/WPF composite were studied. The result shows that extrusion blending can evenly disperse WPF in RPE matrix and that WPF can clearly improve the tensile strength, flexural modulus, storage modulus and thermal stability of RPE. The tensile strength and flexural modulus almost achieved the maximum when the addition of WPF was 20 wt%. The storage modulus under this condition is also higher than that of other samples. This study provides a cheap and effective reinforcement method for waste plastics as well as a new idea for the reuse of WPF, which is of great significance to the reuse of waste and environmental protection. However, how to enhance the interface adhesion between WPF and RPE to further improve the enhancement effect needs further research.
Keywords: composites; recycled polyethylene; reinforce; waste polyester fiber.