Ultrasonic degradation is a suitable method for the chemical recycling of polymers, due to the promising opportunity to tailor molecular mass and polydispersity of the polymer fragments. The paper reports experimental results of the ultrasonic degradation of polystyrene in different solvents (cyclohexane and toluene) under different gas atmospheres (CO2 and N2) for different ultrasonic amplitudes. Ultrasonic degradation of polymers attracts more and more attention in the field of chemical recycling of polymers due to the promising opportunity to tailor molecular weight and polydispersity of the gained polymer fragments. In this work, the influence of solvent, gas atmosphere, and ultrasound amplitude on the ultrasonic degradation process of polystyrene is investigated. Therefore, an experimental procedure to perform ultrasonic degradation of polystyrene under homogeneous temperature conditions in the solvents cyclohexane and toluene under the gas atmospheres CO2 and N2 for different ultrasonic amplitudes was designed. It could be shown that a significant effect on the molecular weight and polydispersity of the polymer could only be revealed for N2 and not for CO2 atmosphere.

» Author: Jana Zimmermann, David Kruppa, Michael Fischlschweiger, Sabine Beuermann, Sabine Enders

» Reference: doi:10.1002/cite.202000119

» Publication Date: 24/11/2020

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