Thermo-mechanical properties of devulcanized rubber/high crystalline polypropylene blends modified by ionizing radiation

Ground tire rubber (GRT) poses a challenging environmental, economical, and disposal problem in the world because of their crosslinked three-dimensional network structure. Waste rubber from end-of-life passenger car tires was successfully devulcanized by using mechanical–chemical process. The coupling of DR with PP in different proportion was investigated by FTIR, X-ray diffraction and SEM techniques. The mechanical and thermal behaviors of the blends composed of devulcanized rubber (DR) and high crystalline polypropylene (PP) in different proportions were studied. Evaluation of the mechanical and thermal properties of the developed blends, unirradiated and gamma irradiated, was carried out using tensile strength (Ts), elongation at break (Eb), hardness, TGA and DSC measurements.