Preparation and study of properties of polyvinyl chloride-scrap tire composite for civil applications

Scrap tires, SCT, represent an environmental problem due to their durability and rigidity as they are designed to suit heavy duty road applications. Many attempts were employed on semi-industrial and pilot scales to find possible uses for the scrap tires as supply of energy and materials via thermochemical conversion and inclusion is some composite materials to suit practical applications. In this work, thermoplastic polymer matrix (PVC), with the incorporation of SCT particles, will be used to prepare composite material with reliable thermal insulation. The composites were processed using a twin-screw extruder. The thermal and mechanical properties of the prepared composites with SCT contents of 10-40% were evaluated. Young’s modulus decreases with the increase in the SCT content and a linear relation with R² of 0.936 describes the effect. Both the Shore D hardness and tensile strength linearly decreased with the increase in SCT powder content. The impact strength increased linearly with the increase of SCT particles content of the composite. The increase of the SCT content in the composites resulted in a decrease of the. The study indicated the possibility of using scrap tires at as much as 30% in the production of thermal insulation sheets with acceptable mechanical properties and reasonable thermal insulation characteristics. The thermal conductivity values of the prepared composites ranged from 0.24- 0.29 W/m ᵒC which is common for thermal insulators.