Abstract
Sheets made by blending recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (R-PET) flakes and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) have been investigated under uni-axial drawing as functions of the draw conditions and blend component. For blend sheets with 5-10% PCL, uniaxial hot stretching could be achieved at temperature 10°C lower than for pure R-PET sheets. By combining wide-angle X-ray diffraction and microwave molecular orientation analysis, it was shown that orientation was developed in the sheets with increasing draw ratio. Thermal analysis indicates that the drawn sheets had higher crystallinity in the PET phase. The crystallization of the PCL phase in the blend sheets was found to be independent of draw ratio and no orientation of PCL was observed. The PCL had no effect on the thermal behaviour of PET. The dynamic-mechanical behaviour of the drawn samples was in good agreement with the thermal analysis, and confirms the presence of strain-induced crystallization and orientation in the PET phase only.