Sustainable use of eggshell powder in the composite based on recycled polystyrene and virgin polystyrene mixture

Abstract

One of the ideas to recycle plastic waste is to mix it with virgin plastic in order to produce sustainable material. In this study, recycled polystyrene (R-PS) is used as a mixing component with virgin polystyrene (PS). Besides, eggshell powder (ESP) was also incorporated to reduce the compounding cost of the composite. Effects of R-PS/PS weight percentage on properties of composites were studied. Increasing PS content has increased tensile properties and impact strength of composites. Results obtained from these properties are in good relation to SEM micrographs. More surprisingly, R-PS plays a crucial role in enhancing the thermal stability of composites. This is simply due to the impurities contained in R-PS.

Keywords:

• Polystyrene
• eggshell powder
• blends
• composites