The Use of Products of Microwave Aminolytic Destruction of Polyethylene Terephthalate in Vibration-absorbing Polymer Composite Materials

The aim of this work is to study the possibility of using the products of aminolytic destruction of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and their derivatives in polymer composite materials with vibration-absorbing properties, which provide effective damping of vibrations of technogenic and natural origin in a wide temperature and frequency range. The paper considers a modern method of recycling PET waste with a mixture of amino alcohols - monoethanolamine and triethanolamine, taken in two different ratios. As a result of the destruction reaction, terephthalic acid diamide (N, N -bis (2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalamide) is formed. To accelerate the destruction process, microwave radiation of various powers of 200, 540 and 700 watts was used. The optimal conditions for aminolytic decomposition of PET were determined: the time and power of microwave radiation with PET conversion up to 95% and the yield of the target product (terephthalic acid diamide) 80-85%. The destruction process was carried out according to a closed cycle of using reagents, without the use of catalysts and at atmospheric pressure, which to a certain extent reduces the energy consumption and increases the environmental friendliness of this method of PET decomposition. The aminolytic degradation product of PET (terephthalic acid diamide) was used as a monomer in the polycondensation reaction to obtain a new oligomer (terephthalic acid oligoesteramide). The degree of polymerisation (n) is in this case 7 to 11 (number of chain links). The obtained oligomer and the PET degradation product were investigated as new components in elastomeric compositions based on chloroprene rubber and in compositions based on thermoplastic elastomers. It has been demonstrated that the introduction of an oligomer based on a PET degradation product reduces the viscosity of elastomeric compositions by 25-35%. The study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation No. 21-79-00301, https://rscf.ru/project/21-79-00301/.