Batch Processing of Poly(ethylene terephthalate)-Based Masterbatches: The Effect of Carrier Molecular Weight and Pigment Concentration

Advancing the chemical engineering fundamentals

Polymer Science & Engineering - II (T2-12b)

Mr Seyed Saeid Hosseini
National University of Singapore
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Sinagpore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260,Singapore
Singapore

Asc. Prof Arjomand Mehrabani
Isfahan University of Technology
Department of Chemical Engineering
Department of Chemical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran
Islamic Republic of Iran

Dr Ali Zadhoush
Isfahan University of Technology
Chemical Engineering

Islamic Republic of Iran

Keywords: Poly(ethylene terephthalate), Masterbatch, Batch processing, Dispersion, Optical analysis.

Abstract

The coloring technology constitutes one of the prominent sections of industrial processing of polymeric materials. In this research, a batch compounding technique is adopted in order to prepare the coloring masterbatches based on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) as the carrier medium. A set of appropriate processing conditions was determined to prevent the polymer degradation while achieving the desired quality. The effect of compound formulation, including the molecular weight of carrier and pigment concentrations were studied applying both direct and in-direct techniques. The interpretation of torque-time diagrams for the masterbatches preparation stage revealed the key role of carrier molecular weight on the mixing process. The best dispersion quality was obtained from the compound having lower molecular weight, mainly due to the less viscosity and chain entanglements which rendered less resistance for the transport of pigments into the carrier medium. Increase of the pigment loading for a fixed carrier resulted in the decrease in dispersion energy which was ascribed to the direct effect of compound formulation and the difference in nature of the materials. The produced masterbatches were accordingly applied to the host polymer to enable the qualitative analysis of the dispersion process via optical microscopy. The better dispersion quality and less agglomeration were observed for the samples prepared from low molecular weight carrier. The results indicate high quality PET-based coloring masterbatches can be successfully produced through the optimized condition of batch compounding. Furthermore, an appropriate selection of carrier molecular weight and pigment loading are prerequisite for achieving the a masterbatch compound with desired properties.

Presented Tuesday 18, 09:25 to 09:45, in session Polymer Science & Engineering - II (T2-12b).