Two Layer Sheets for Processing Post-Consumer Materials

An increasing percentage of post-consumer materials (PCR) is becoming more and more important in all processing methods in polymer technology, also due to the lack of raw materials and political demands. Very special requirements are placed on material properties such as viscosities in extrusion. Low viscosities and the presence of particles affect extrusion in a negative manner. In this study, the use of multilayer sheets is determined to both ensure extrudability and contribute to a significant improvement in surface qualities. The focus is placed on the influence of viscosity and particles on mono- und multilayer sheet quality. Therefore, two different virgin materials with a melt flow rate (MFR) of 3 g/10 min and 6 g/10 min and two different PCR materials with a MFR of 16 g/10 min and 50 g/10 min are processed both in monolayers and in two layer sheets. Rheological investigations, optical analysis, and film thickness distributions are used to show the relationship between matrix viscosity and particles. The results show that the use of multilayer extrusion can improve both extrudability and sheet quality, so that multilayer sheets can offer a significant potential in the processing of PCR materials.