Thermomechanical recycling of post-consumer poly(ethylene terephthalate) bottles and post-industrial polyamide 6 fishing nets reinforced with organo- modified montmorillonite

Thermomechanical recycling of post-consumer poly(ethylene terephthalate) bottles and post-industrial polyamide 6 fishing nets reinforced with organo- modified montmorillonite | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Thermomechanical recycling of post-consumer poly(ethylene terephthalate) bottles and post-industrial polyamide 6 fishing nets reinforced with organo- modified montmorillonite Phasawat Chaiwutthinan, Amnouy Larpkasemsuk This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8447448/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study involved the recycling of post-consumer poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and post-industrial polyamide 6 (PA6). Their blends and nanocomposites were melt fabricated using twin screw extruder and injection molding machine. Recycled PET (rPET)/recycled PA6 (rPA6) blends were first prepared at five weight ratios (90/10 to 50/50). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) depicted a sea-island morphology on their fractured surfaces, where rPA6 formed dispersed droplets within the rPET matrix. Their melt flow index (MFI) decreased with increasing rPA6 content, suggesting an increased melt viscosity. Comparing with neat rPET, tensile strength, elongation at break, and impact strength of the blends were enhanced along with the expense of Young’s modulus. The blend with 30 wt% rPA6 was further mixed with a small loading of organo-modified montmorillonite (OMMT) (1, 3, and 5 phr) using the same processing conditions. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy confirmed the presence of an exfoliated structure in the nanocomposites. SEM images showed that the addition of OMMT caused rPA6 domains to increase in size because OMMT had a strong tendency to move towards the rPA6 phases and selectively localized within or at the interface of the rPA6 domains. The MFI of the nanocomposites decreased continuously with increasing OMMT contents compared to that of the neat blend, implying an increased melt viscosity. Finally, the results revealed that only the nanocomposite containing 1 phr OMMT exhibited an increase in all the evaluated mechanical properties over the neat blend, which can make the recycled materials more suitable for a wider range of applications. Physical sciences/Chemistry Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Materials science mechanical recycling poly(ethylene terephthalate) polyamide 6 organoclay Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Introduction A growing global human population and rising living standards primarily lead to an increased consumption of products and goods made from petroleum-based plastics. They are produced for a wide range of applications due to their unique properties, such as versatility, light weight, durability, cost-effectiveness, and resistance to corrosion and chemicals 1–7 . These make them indispensable across many industries, including packaging, construction, electronics, agriculture, fishery, and healthcare. Some plastics are used as substitutes for traditional materials like metal, ceramics, glass, woods, and natural fibers. The non-biodegradable nature of plastics leads to their persistence in the environment for centuries and accumulation in every ecosystem. This pollution has widespread impacts, from physical degradation of ecosystems to potential harm to wildelife and human through ingestion and inhalation 8–11 . Various sources of plastic wastes, including industrial, commercial, agricultural, and household activities are often disposed of in landfills alongside other municipal solid wastes (MSW). However, the limitation in landfilling capacity, couple with the leachate and ground pollution, are leading to significant problems, including low groundwater quality and broader contamination of the local environment 5 . While incineration offers an alternative to landfills and generates energy, it releases harmful air pollutants like dioxins, furans, heavy metal, and particulate matter, which pose severe risks to human health and environmental hazards. Mechanical recycling is a highly effective method to reduce plastic wastes ending up in landfills or incineration plants, to conserve natural resources and energy, to reduce the use of commercial raw materials, and to enhance the market value by producing new value-added products 4–7,12–14 . The process involves different steps, including collection, sorting, washing, drying grinding (or shredding), and then either pelletizing or compounding, which reprocesses the materials into new products 3,5,7,10,12 . Consumer demand for recycled materials, particularly engineering plastics like recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (rPET) and recycled polyamide 6 (rPA6) has enhanced due to increased environmental awareness and a desire to reduce plastic pollution. Post-consumer waste refers to used products discarded by consumers after their use, such as plastic bottles or packagings, while post-industrial waste is generated during the manufacturing process, like plastic scraps, offcuts, and rejected materials from a production line. Both wastes can serve as potential raw materials for creating cost-effective products. The interest in rPET stems from its prevalence in MSW and its high recyclability 14,15 . PET is a widely used thermoplastic polymer for food packaging, such as bottles, films, trays, and container due to its non-toxicity, strength, clarity, good barrier properties (against gas and moisture), and low cost 1,2,10, 15–17 . A major challenge encountered during mechanical recycling is the degradation of rPET induced by heat, stress, and moisture, leading to a decrease in its molecular weight through the random scission at the ester linkages and the formation of polar carboxyl and hydroxyl end groups 9,10,14,15,17 . This consequently reduces its intrinsic viscosity and melt strength, which in turn negatively impacts the toughness, moldability, and mechanical properties 10,14,17 . Meanwhile, shorter polymer chains have better mobility, which can alter the crystallization behavior of the rPET 10 . Polymer blends and composites are excellent strategies to enhance recyclability and performance of rPET by leveraging its properties with other materials 9,16 . Blending rPET with other recycled plastics is indeed a cost-effective process that attracts significant attention from researchers and manufacturers because it can improve mechanical properties and reduce overall production costs and environmental impact. Post-industrial waste typically possesses favorable physical properties like homogeneity, known compositions, minimal contaminants, and constant quality 5 . In this work, post-industrial rPA6 from waste fishing nets were used to regain the properties of post-consumer rPET bottles through melt blending. In the modern-day, PA6, an important fiber-forming polymer, is commonly used in the production of fishing net owing to its high strength, durability, ability to stretch, resistance to UV radiation, low friction coefficient, etc., making it as a useful material in a variety of fishing environments 7,18–20 . Besides, its high water absorption also increases the sinking speed of the nets during fishing. Annually, a large amount of worn-out and impaired fishing nets is sorted and collected in the production factory. Blending rPET with rPA6 is thus more ecological, economical, and suitable for industrialized production. This work was firstly carried out to identify the optimum rPA6 content in the blend for further preparing nanocomposites with a small amount of nanoclay (up to 5 parts by weight per hundred of resin, phr) in an attempt to improve the final product properties. The addition of inorganic nanofillers to polymeric materials is a well-known technique to obtain a promising class of nanocomposites by improving or modifying some of their properties. Among the layered silicates, montmorillonite (MMT) is the most predominantly used in the preparation of polymer-clay nanocomposites due to its natural occurrence, abundance, low cost, eco-friendliness, and high aspect ratio, which provides great possibility of energy transfer from one phase to another 21 – 25 . It is a member of the smectite group (2:1 phyllosilicate) with a three-layer crystal sheet, consisting of two silica tetrahrdral sheets sandwiching a central octahedral sheet of either magnesium or aluminum hydroxide 22,24 – 28 . The plate-like structure of MMT with a thickness of around 1 nm often offer a remarkable improvement in material properties such as mechanical, thermal, barrier, and flame-retardant properties even at low clay loadings (<10 wt%) because of the high aspect ratio (100–1500) and the extremely large surface area (700–800 m 2 /g) of the dispersed phase 21,23,28, 29 . However, the dispersion of hydrophilic MMT in organophilic engineering polymers during processing is not easily accomplished 24,25,27,30 . Compatibility is commonly improved through the cationic-exchange reaction of the Na + and Ca +2 residing in the interlayer regions (galleries) with a set of long chain organic cations such as alkylamonium and alkylphosphonium ions to yield more organophilic surface, exhibiting lower surface energy and higher affinity with a broad range of polymer matrices 23,25,27,30 . The exchanged cations located inside the interlayers of the organically modified MMT (OMMT) not only impart compatibility more readily with polymer but also enlarge the clay interlayer distance ( d -spacing) 24,25,28,30 . This facilitates the polymer chains to penetrate into the interstices of the clay galleries, providing a preferable intercalation and/or exfoliation of the MMT platelets, which offers a superior energy or stress transfer from one phase to another and consequently yields nanocomposites with improved mechanical properties 23,27,3 1 . Meanwhile, many studies have been reported on the acting of OMMT as compatibilizing agent in immiscible polymer blends 32,33 . This is because the OMMT functionalized by an intercalating agent has an affinity for each of the polymers. Thus, the addition of small amount of OMMT can also manipulate the morphology and performance of the blends. Besides, the clay nanocomposites can be produced through melt compounding with the existing processing technologies and equipments, such as twin screw extruder and injection molding. The properties of the prepared samples in terms of melt flow index (MFI), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Heat distortion and Vicat softening temperature (HDT and VST), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), mechanical properties, and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) were comparatively investigated. Materials and Methods Materials Post-consumer rPET flakes (Fig. 1a) obtained from drinking water bottles were used as the main component. Post-industrial rPA6 pelagic fishing net scraps (Fig. 1b) were supplied by Siam Brother Enterprise Co., Ltd. (Thailand). The received scraps were extruded into water (Fig. 2a) and cut into pellets (Fig. 2b) before compounding. Commercial OMMT (Cloisite ® 30B) was purchased from Southern Clay Products, Inc. (USA). It is a natural MMT organically modified with 30% of a methyltallow bis - 2 -hydroxyethyl quaternary ammonium salt 23,34,35 . Accordingto the manufacturer data, Cloisite ® 30B has a specific gravity of 1.98 g/cm 3 , a cationic exchange capacity of 90 meq/100 g clay and a d 001 of 1.85 nm. All the materials were used as received without further modification. Sample preparation All the components (rPET, rPA6, and OMMT) were separately oven-dried overnight at 100 °C to eliminate the residual moisture prior to melt blending on an LTE-26-40 twin-screw extruder (Labtech Engineering, Thailand); screw diameter was 26 mm and L/D ratio was 40/1. The temperature profile, starting from the feed zone to the die, was 260, 265, 260, 257, 255, 250, 245, 230, 210, and 200 °C with the extrusion speed of 60 rpm. The obtained extrudates were cooled in water, pelletized and then dehumidified before fabricating into the standard test specimens on the Battenfield BA 250 CDC injection molding machine (Germany) under a temperature profile of 270, 260, 250, and 240 °C. The rPET/rPA6 weight ratios were considered at 90/10, 80/20, 70/30, 60/40, and 50/50. The blend with optimum combination of mechanical properties was melt mixed with three loading levels (1, 3, and 5 phr) of OMMT using the same process conditions thereafter. Testing and characterization Scanning electron microscopy The morphology of tensile fractured specimens was examined by SEM using a JEOL JSM-6480 LV instrument (Japan) under an accelerating voltage of 15 kV with a magnification of ´2,000. Prior to imaging, the fractured surface was sputter-coated with a thin layer of gold under vacuum to enhance electrical conductivity. Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analyses were conducted to record IR spectra of rPET, rPA6, and their blends using a Nicolet 6700 FT-IR spectrometer from Thermo Fisher Scientific (USA). Each spectrum of the sample was recorded within the frequency range of 4,000 to 400 cm – 1 with 4 cm – 1 resolution and 64 repetitious scans. Melt flow index TheMFI was measured using a capillary plastometer (Kayeness 7053 Indexer, USA) at 260 °C under a constant load of 2.16 kg in accordance with ASTM D1238. The MFI value was expressed as the amount (g) of the sample, extruding through a die of standard dimension (8 mm in length and 2.1 mm in diameter)for 10 min. The result was the average of three measurements. Thermogravimetric analyzer To measure the thermal stability of the samples, TGA analysis under N 2 atmosphere was performed on a Mettler Toledo TGA/SDTA 851 e analyzer (Switzerland) with a gas flow rate of 20 mL/min to avoid a thermo-oxidative degradation and to remove corrosive gases involved in the degradation. The measurement was conducted over the temperature range from 50 to 700 °C at a heating rate of 20 °C/min. The temperatures for onset ( T onset ), end-set ( T end-set ), maximum degradation ( T max ), and the char residue (%char) were reported. Heat distortion and Vicat-softening temperature The HDT and VST measurements were carried out according to ASTM D648 and ASTM D1525, respectively. Typically, the HDT evaluates the deflection temperature under flexural load, whilst the VST examines the softening temperature under point load. For the HDT test, a constant stress (1.82 MPa) was applied at the center of a rectangular sample (12.7 × 127 × 3 mm) which was placed in a thermally-controlled silicone oil bath of the HDT/VICAT heat deflection tester (Ceast 6911, Italy) 36,37 . TheHDT was achieved at the 0.25 mm deflection upon heating the sample at a rate of 2 °C/min from RT 36,37 . In the VST test, the sample (10 × 10 × 3 mm) was also placed in the same silicone oil bath for which the temperature was raised at a rate of 2 °C/min from RT. The VST was taken as the temperature at which a needle tip under a standardized loading of 50 N penetrated exactly 1 mm into the specimen 36,37 . Differential scanning calorimetry Thethermal and crystallization behaviors of each sample were evaluated by DSC on a Mettler Toledo DSC 1 STAR System instrument (Switzerland). The sample(~10 mg) was heated from room temperature (RT) to 300 °C (first heating scan) and held isothermally for 5 min to erase any previous thermal history of the material and then cooled down to the RT (cooling scan) and lastly reheated to 300 °C (second heating scan). Theexperiment was carried out at the same heating/cooling rate (10 °C/min) under a nitrogen (N 2 ) atmosphere with a gas flow rate of 60 mL/min throughout the experiment. From the cooling and second heating curves, the crystallization temperature ( T c ), melting temperature ( T m ) and melting enthalpy (∆ H m ) of the sample were reported, while the degree of crystallinity (χ c ) of either rPET or rPA6 in the sample was separately evaluated by Eq. 1; χ c (%) = [∆ H m /∆ H ° m w]´ 100 (1) where Δ H o m is the melting enthalpy of the 100% crystalline rPET (140 J/g) 14,38,3 9 and rPA6 (230 J/g) 40,41 , and w is the weight fraction of each component in the sample. Mechanical properties The tensile test was carried out on a dumbbell-shaped specimen using a Universal Materials Testing Machine (LR10k plus , LLOYD, UK), according to the ASTM D638 Type I standard. The load cell capacity and crosshead speed were 10 kN and 50 mm/min, respectively. A notched Izod impact test was performed on a sample (12.7 × 63.5 × 3 mm) using a Gotech GT-7045-MD pendulum impact tester with a 2-joule hammer, following the ASTM D 256 standard. X-ray diffraction The structure and interlayer spacing ( d 001 ) of OMMT were evaluated by means of XRD using a Bruker-AXS D8 Discover diffractometer (USA). The X-ray beam was Cu-K α ( λ = 0.1542 nm) radiation, operated at 40 kV and 40 mA. Samples were scanned over a 2 θ range of 1–10 o using a scan rate of 0.05°/sec. The d 001 was determined by the diffraction peak position, according to Bragg’s equation (Eq. 2): λ = 2 d sin θ (2) Transmission electron microscopy The morphology of nanocomposites was observed by TEM measurement on a Philips Tecnai 20 (USA), operating at an accelerating voltage of 120 kV. The samples with ultra-thin section of about 120 nm in thickness were prepared using a Leica ultracut microtome with a diatome diamond knife. Dynamic mechanical analysis The dynamic mechanical properties of nanocomposites, including storage modulus ( E ′) and loss tangent (tan δ ) were investigated on a rectangular sample (10 × 40 × 3 mm) using a DMA 242 E Artemis (Germany) under a single-cantilever bending mode at a constant frequency of 1 Hz and a heating rate of 2 °C/min over a temperature range from 30 to 170 °C. Results and Discussion Characterization of the rPET/rPA6 blends Representative SEM images of the tensile fractured surfaces for rPET, rPA6, and rPET/rPA6 blends at ×2000 magnification are all illustrated in Fig . 3. Theneat rPET revealed unidirectional low ridges on a smooth and homogeneous surface without any domain separation (Fig. 3a), suggesting its low toughness. Meanwhile, a rougher texture of the neat rPA6 (Fig. 3b) indicated its higher ductility. This implied that rPET was more prone to brittleness compared with rPA6. Whenthese two polymers were blended, the resulting morphology exhibited a rougher surface, and this roughness was influenced by the blending ratio (Fig. 3c–g). The fractured surfaces for all the blends demonstrated a two-phase morphology, characterized by a “sea-island” structure, where a minor component (in this case, rPA6) with higher viscosity formed dispersed spherical droplets or particles within a continuous matrix of the major component (rPET) 42,43 . The size and distribution of rPA6 domains within rPET blends are indeed affected by the relative amounts of each polymer. Although they are thermodynamically immiscible, their morphological stability is likely due to strong interactions between the ester groups of rPET and the amine groups of rPA6, primarily through hydrogen bonding and in-situ interchange reactions 19,44,45 . This should account for a stable and finely dispersed blend morphology. The blend with 10 wt% rPA6 exhibited a favorable morphology on its fractured surface, featuring fine, spherical rPA6 particles, and reduced flaws and grooves compared with blends with higher rPA6 contents (Fig. 3c). The size of the dispersed domains gradually increased as the amount of rPA6 increased, according to its coalescence. This typically occurs in immiscible polymer blends when the interfacial tension between the two phases is relatively low. The observation of large flaws and grooves on the fractured surfaces of the blends with higher rPA6 contents (Figs. 3f and 3g) implied a decline in the compatibility between the rPET and rPA6 phases. Moreover, some rPA6 aggregates were pulled out during tensile testing, leaving voids on the undulated fractured surface. This may be because the increased strength and number of hydrogen bonding in rPA6 phase, either between different molecules (intermolecular) or within the same molecule (intramolecular) reduced the interfacial adhesion between rPET and rPA6 or the rate of the interchange reactions at their interface. Therefore, the strong interconnections within rPA6 phase can strengthen the rPA6 droplets and prevented them from easily moving and dispersing throughout the rPET matrix. As a result, the rPA6 domains remained spherical and did not break up or deform significantly during injection molding. This in turn caused the rPA6 droplets essentially being trapped within the rPET matrix during the cooling and solidification processes. FTIR spectra of rPET, rPA6, and rPET/rPA6 blends in the wavenumber range of 3500–1000 cm -1 are shown in Fig. 4. Typical characteristic peaks of rPET include symmetric stretching vibration of methylene group at 2853 cm –1 , the C=O stretching vibration of the ester group at 1710 cm –1 , C–O–C stretching at 1237 cm –1 , and asymmetric stretching vibration of the methyl (CH 3 –) and methylene groups (–CH 2 –) at 2962 cm –1 and 2925 cm –1 , respectively 19,46–48 . Meanwhile, rPA6 present characteristic peaks at 3297 cm –1 (N–H stretching), 2930 cm –1 and 2859 cm –1 (–CH 2 – stretching), 1635 cm –1 (C=O stretching, amide I) and 1538 cm –1 (N–H bending and C–N stretching, amide II) 49–51 . Allthe characteristic peaks of rPET and rPA6 were also present in their blends. Inthe blends, a slight displacement of the C=O and N–H peaks of rPA6 and the C=O of rPET suggested the existence of hydrogen bonding or trans-esterification reactions between the ester-amine groups of rPET and rPA6 19,42,52 . The in-situ reactions occurred by means of their reactive functional groups located inside the chains (–CO–O– and –CO–NH–) and/or at chain ends (–OH, –COOH and –NH 2 ) during melt mixing, resulting in the formation of PET-PA6 copolymers 30,45,52,53 . Thereaction preferentially takes place at the interfaces between the rPET and rPA6, forming PET-PA6 copolymers in situ. The produced copolymers may act as compatibilizing layers at phase boundaries, further improving their compatibility. Besides,the intensities of the C=O and N–H peaks of the blends were found to be lower than those of the neat rPET and rPA6, according to the consumption of esters via reaction with amines. Marchikitiet al. 53 proposed the aminolysis reaction between esters in PET and secondary amines in PA6 when processed at elevated temperature, as delineated in Scheme I. Asa result,the amide groups were randomly introduced along the backbone of rPET, which subsequently reduced the regularity of the rPET molecules 17 . MFI is one of the significant processing parameters and quality control measurements for thermoplastic polymers. Thedata summarized in Table 1 revealed a very high MFI of the neat rPET (73.3g/10 min), indicating low melt viscosity and resistance to flow, as a consequence of molecular chain scission and subsequent reduction in molecular weight caused by thermal and mechanical degradations during processing under high temperature and shear stress 54 . This led to the increased flowability, deteriorated mechanical strength, and poor workability. In rPET/rPA6 blends, increasing the rPA6 content (10–50 wt%) led to a continuous decrease in the MFI of the blend compared with the neat rPET. This reduction, ranging from 1.2- to 1.8-fold, indicated that thedispersed rPA6 phase restricted the movement of rPET molecules in the blend, effectively increasing the melt viscosity. The observed reduction in MFI of the blends was reasonable, because rPA6 had a significantly lower MFI (27.8 g/10 min) compared with rPET, when measured under the same conditions. The reduced MFI was indeed likely caused by a combination of hydrogen bonding and interchange reactions that contributed to a higher molecular weight, increased entanglement, and improved compatibility between rPET and rPA6 31,45 .Moreover,the increased size of rPA6 droplets could hinder the smooth flow of the molten blend during processing. Hence,the addition of rPA6 to rPET can help to partially offset the decrease in molecular weight and melt strength that typically occurs during rPET processing, allowing it to be reprocessed into new products at high temperature. The TGA and derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) curves for rPET, rPA6, and rPET/rPA6 blends are depicted in Fig. 5, whilst their thermal degradation data, including T onset , T end-set , T max and char residue at 700 °C are also summarized in Table 1. It is seen that all the samples underwent one step of mass loss related to polymer degradation, which was mainly attributed to the random chain scission 1,55,56 . The TGA curves showed no significant weight loss up to the T onset , followed by a sharp weight loss (steep slope) up to the T end-set . The neat rPET and rPA6 exhibited their main step of degradations ( T onset –T end-set ) in the temperature ranges of 413.5–447.5 °C and 419–454.3 °C, along with the T max at 437 and 448.3°C, respectively, suggesting that rPET had lower thermal stability than rPA6. The chain scission of rPET and rPA6 at the ester (-COO-) and amide (NH-CO-) links proceeded predominantly in the amorphous regions, which resulted in a decrease in their molecular weight 1,55 . The char residue content for the neat rPET and rPA6 was about 14.4 and 5.6 wt%, respectively, indicating that rPET had higher char-forming ability and rPA6 degraded almost complete in one sharp step 7 . It has been reported that PET can generate a large amount of carbonaceous residue in a N 2 atmosphere 57 . From Fig. 5 and Table 1, the mass loss of all the rPET/rPA6 blends was in between 372.7 °C and 450.3 °C. The single degradation peak implied the homogeneity of the compounded rPET 14 . As can be seen, the addition of rPA6 (10–50 wt%) to rPET did not improve the thermal stability of the blends as a result of their irregular morphology (Fig. 3) that allowed the heat to easily penetrate into the inner part. The T onset , T end-set , and T max of the blends were observed in the ranges of 372.7–402.5 °C, 418.3–450.3 °C, and 396.3–435.2 °C, respectively, whilst their char residue (6.5–14%) decreased with increasing rPA6 content. However, the obtained results implied that all the samples did not degrade and could maintain their thermal stability during the experimental processing (extrusion and injection molding). To evaluate the heat resistance of rigid plastics, HDT and VST tests were performed in this study. The criteria that affect the HDT and VST values include compactness (stiffness), glass transition temperature, and crystallinity of polymeric materials 58–60 . As tabulated in Table 1, both HDT and VST of the neat rPET were superior to those of the neat rPA6 (5.1 ℃ and 28.9 ℃, respectively), which may be due to the rigid molecular structure and the higher crystallinity of rPET 61 . Evidently, the HDT and VST of all the rPET/rPA6 blends were lower than those of the neat rPET, according to the lower HDT and VST values of the added rPA6. As can be observed, the variation in both HDT and VST with blend compositions followed the same trend. Besides, there was little change in these values with increasing rPA6 content because the rPA6 phases were mostly dispersed as droplets inside the rPET matrix. DSC was used to analyze the crystallization and melting behaviors of the prepared samples. Fig. 6shows the DSC cooling and second heating thermograms of rPET, rPA6, and rPET/rPA6 blends. Thecorresponding thermal data, including T c , T m , ∆ H m , and χ c , for various compositions are summarized in Table 2. From the cooling curves (Fig. 6a), the neat rPET and rPA6 revealed their T c peaks around 208.3 °C and 171.5 °C, respectively, according to the melt-crystallization process, which occurred after erasing their thermal history in the first heating scan. Thisimpliedthat each polymer had enough time to move and organize into a crystalline structure upon cooling at 10 °C/min. TherPET exhibited a sharp T c peak, while the rPA6 showed a broad and shallow T c peak at a lower temperature. The sharp T c peak suggests a relatively rapid and well-defined crystallization process, indicating a more uniform and ordered structure formation during crystallization. The broad and shallow T c peak indicates a less defined and slower crystallization process, which may be due to chain entanglement, slower molecular mobility or the presence of impurities in the recycled material. Inall rPET/rPA6 blending ratios, the T c peaks of rPET and rPA6 were clearly seenin the range of 198.4–203.7 °C and 184.5–189.3 °C, respectively, indicating that the rPET component had higher crystallization rate and thus crystallized first in the blend. Thismay be because themolecular chain shorteningof rPET facilitatedthechain mobility and alignment in the crystalline domain 10,12,37 . As they crystallized separately, the two distinct phases co-existed in the blends, where the fine dispersion of rPA6 droplets in the rPET matrix was observed via the SEM images (Fig. 3).This is a typical crystallization behavior of two immiscible semicrystalline polymers.The T c of rPET in the blends was found to be lower than that of the neat rPET because its molecular chain movement required for crystallization from the molten state was disrupted by the rPA6 phase and also by the copolymers formed via the trans-condensation reaction between ester and amine groups 45 . Meanwhile, the T c peak of rPA6 in the blends gradually turned into a more obvious peak and also shifted to a higher temperature with increasing rPA6 content when compared with that of the neat rPA6. Thisfinding may be due to the nucleating activity of the already crystallized rPET that initiated the crystallization of rPA6. FromFig. 6b,only endothermic melting transition can be observed on the second heating curve of these two polymers. The neat rPETrevealeda single T m at 247.5 °C, while rPET in all blends showed double T m peaks with different intensities, which were attributed to the melting-recrystallization-remelting process. This phenomenon was due to the partial melting of imperfect or less stable crystals, exhibiting a small shoulder in the DSC curves between 230.5–238.8 °C. The rPET chains, now in a more mobile state, could then rearrange and recrystallize into more stable crystals at a slightly higher temperature, using the remaining crystals as templates 15,17,36,62 . The newly formed crystals then remelted at around 248 °C, leading to the more obvious second melting peak. Meanwhile, the neat rPA6 sample exhibited two distinct melting peaks of the two common crystalline forms: a smaller peak at 210 °C representing the γ-form and a larger peak at 219 °C representing the α-form. The α-form of rPA6 is thermodynamically more stable due to its highly ordered crystal structure, but the γ-form is often observed to form more readily under certain conditions 63,64 . This preference for the γ-form is attributed to its faster crystallization kinetics, indicating that it can form more quickly than the more stable α-form. This observation signified the coexistence of both crystalline forms within the rPA6, which is a common phenomenon in polymorphic system 28,50,63,64 . A similarbehavior was also exhibited in the blends, two melting peaks of rPA6 were observed within the narrow temperature ranges of 207–210.7 °C and 217–218.4 °C.However, the major T m of rPET and rPA6 in their blends remained similar to their respective neat resins, suggesting that the two polymers formed separated phases within the blends. During the cooling of a blend from the molten state, rPET solidified first because it had a higher T m . This led to the rPA6, still molten, dispersing as droplets within the solidified rPET matrix. As the rPA6 eventually solidified, these droplets were trapped or fixed within the solid rPET structure 17 . In the study,the ∆ H m values of the polymers shown in Table 2 were used to evaluate their χ c , using Eq. 2. The neat rPET exhibited a higher χ c (approximately 39.4%) compared with the neat rPA6 (25.2%), suggesting that the rPET chains had a greater tendency to arrange themselves in an ordered crystalline structure. In blends of rPET and rPA6, their χ c values were observed to be lower than those of the corresponding neat resins. The results showed that the χ c of rPET in the blend ranged from 23.7% to 32%, while the χ c of rPA6 ranged from 18.2 to 26.3%. The lower values could be due to the mutual physical interference between the crystallization processes of the two polymers. The growth of crystal of one polymer can physically impede the growth of the other, hindering the formation of a well-defined crystalline structure in the blend, leading to a reduction in the overall χ c values 45 . Furthermore,the formation of copolymers in the blends had disrupted the symmetry and regularity of the polymer chains, making it more difficult for them to align and pack into a crystalline structure 17,65 . The mechanical properties of rPET, rPA6, and their blends with five different weight ratios in terms of tensile strength, Young's modulus, elongation at break, and impact strength are listed in Table 3. It is evident that neat rPET exhibited rather poor mechanical properties, particularly low tensile strength (24.5 MPa), elongation at break (1.7%), and impact strength (26.7 J/m) along with a high Young’s modulus (4460 MPa). The combination of these properties suggested that rPET, in its basic form, was brittle, stiff, and not very strong or flexible, implying that it was likely to break easily under stress, and it did not deform or stretch much before fracturing. The rPET exhibits high stiffness due to the presence of aromatic rings within its molecular structure and the potential for crystallization during processing 9,61 . The described mechanical properties indicated that neat rPET was not suitable for applications requiring strength, flexibility, or resistance to impact. The addition of rPA6 to rPET resulted in the blends with improved tensile strength and elongation at break as the rPA6 content increased. However, these enhancements came at the expense of reduced Young’s modulus, indicating that the blends became tougher but less rigid. This is because rPA6 has a more flexible and resilient molecular structure. Hence, these findings indicated that rPA6 offered its high tensile strength (58.2 MPa), high elongation at break (153.4%), and low Young's modulus (1560.4 MPa) to the blends. However, blending rPET with a small amount of rPA6, specifically 10 and 20 wt% led to a slight increase in the tensile strength (1.1- and 1.2-fold, respectively) and elongation at break (1.1- and 1.3-fold, respectively) of the blends compared with neat rPET. This was due to an insufficient dispersion of the rPA6 within the rPET matrix and a poor stress transfer between the two polymer phases that limited the improvement of mechanical properties. Meanwhile, a notable increase in the tensile strength (1.5- to 1.7-fold) and elongation at break (1.8- to 2.1-fold) of the blends could be achieved at rPA6 loadings ranging from 30 to 50 wt%. This implied that the blends became stronger and more resistant to deformation under tension. Besides, the blends were more capable of stretching before breaking. This suggested a composition range where the reinforcing effect of rPA6 was pronounced. In contrast, the Young’s modulus, a measure of stiffness, decreased (1.2- to 2.2-fold) across the entire composition range tested. Although rPA6 had a high impact strength (57.6 J/m), incorporating rPA6 into rPET at 10 and 20 wt% led to a reduction in the impact strength (1.3- and 1.2-fold, respectively) of the blends. This behavior was likely due to a deficient or poor dispersion of the rPA6 within the rPET matrix. Thus, the rPA6 particles could not be evenly distributed, leading to stress concentrations within the blends. Meanwhile, blends with 30 and 40 wt% rPA6 exhibited higher impact strength than neat rPET by about 1.3-fold, due to a better dispersion rPA6. However, a 50 wt% blend rPA6 showed lower impact strength than neat rPET by 1.1-fold because excessive rPA6 led to agglomeration and reduced contact area, negatively impacting the impact resistance of the blend. Therefore, the inclusion of rPA6 into rPET in appropriate ratios can indeed improve the mechanical properties of the resulting blends, particularly enhancing both its strength and toughness. For further study, therPET/rPA6 blend with 30 wt% rPA6 was selected for preparing nanocomposites with three different loadings of OMMT (1, 3, and 5 phr) because it offered a balance between mechanical performance and cost- effectiveness. Characterization of the rPET/rPA6/OMMT blend nanocomposites XRDpatterns in theobserved 2 θ range (1.5° to 10°) for OMMT and the 70/30 (wt%/wt%) rPET/rPA6 blend nanocomposites containing 1, 3, and 5 phr OMMT are shown in Fig. 7. Thesilicate-interlayer spacing ( d ) of OMMT was determined using Bragg’s equation (Eq. 2) and the position of the (001) peak (expressed as 2 θ ) in the XRD diffractogram. Thebroad peak at 2 θ = 4.8° of OMMTcorresponded to a d 001 of 18.4 Å. Meanwhile, the disappearance of this peak in the nanocomposites, despite the presence of OMMT, was an indication that the individual silicate layers were separated from each other and randomly distributed within the blend matrix by shear during melt processing, resulting in an exfoliated nanostructure 2,50,66 . Tohelp confirm this phenomenon, TEM analysis was further performed. From Fig. 8. all the TEM images revealed the delamination of the OMMT layers at the nanoscale, corroborating the evidence from XRD analysis. From Fig. 9, SEM images of the three different rPET/rPA6/OMMT nanocomposites revealed a phase separated morphology where rPET formed the continuous matrix and rPA6 formed dispersed spherical domains. The OMMT nanoparticles tended to migrate towards the more polar rPA6 component. This preference led to the OMMT either clustering at the boundary between rPET and rPA6 phases or becoming embedded within the rPA6 domains 46,67 . The OMMT layers formed around rPA6 particles could act as a physical barrier, hindering the direct contact and interaction between the two polymer phases. Hence, the rPA6 phase tended to form larger, more distinct domains within the rPET matrix. As can be observed from Fig 9a, a low concentration (1 phr) of OMMT was sufficient to achieve the more uniform dispersion and less holes in the blend nanocomposite. At higher amount of OMMT (3 and 5 phr), the dispersed rPA6 domains became larger (Figs 9b and 9c). The observation of holes on the fractured surfaces indicated that the rPA6 domains were pulled out from the rPET matrix during the tensile test, suggesting a lack of strong adhesion or bonding between the two polymers. Therefore, the selective localization of OMMT in the nanocomposites had great effects on the morphology and properties of the nanocomposites. According to Table 1, it is evidently shown that the MFI values of the three different rPET/rPA6/OMMT nanocomposites continuously decreased as the amount of OMMT increased, but these values were consistently lower than that of the neat rPET (1.6- to 2.9–fold) and the neat rPA6/rPET blend (1.1– to 1.9-fold). This implied that as more OMMT was added to the nanocomposites, the material became more resistant to flow when melted. This is because the preferential localization of OMMT at the interface between rPET and rPA6 phases or within the more compatible rPA6 phase restricted the movement of polymer chains, resulting in a lower MFI. TGA and DTG curves of the three different rPET/rPA6/OMMT nanocomposites are presented in Fig. 10, whilst their related thermal data were also listed in Table 1. All the nanocomposites exhibited a single-step degradation process. Their T onset , T end-set , and T max werein the range of 380.3–385.7 °C, 430.7–435.4 °C, and 406.2–413.5 °C, respectively. The incorporation of OMMT enhanced the T onset of the nanocomposites by 2.8–8.2 °C compared with that of the neat rPA6/rPET blend. Thissuggested that the OMMT acted as a barrier, improving the resistance to thermal breakdown at the initial degradation stage of the materials. The silicate nanoplatelets, when dispersed within polymer matrix, created a tortuous path for heat and volatile degradation products. This tortuosity hindered heat from readily reaching the polymers and impeded the volatilization of the small polymers generated during degradation, delaying down the T onset of the samples 68,69 . Afterwards, the nanocomposites showed a reverse thermal stability, as evidenced by a decrease in the T end-set by 1.9–6.6 °C and T max by 1.5–8.8 °C in comparison with those of the neat blend. This suggested that the barrier effect of OMMT was limited by the inherent characteristic of OMMT. Acidic sites and free metallic ions (e.g., Fe 3+ , Al 3+ )on clay surfaces can act as catalysts, accelerating the degradation of polymers by facilitating the breakdown of polymer chains and countering the barrier effect of OMMT 2 . However, all nanocomposites could exhibit sufficient thermal stability during melt processing, The presence of a stable char residue (12–15.8 wt%) in the nanocomposites indicated that the OMMT could promote the formation of a protective char layer during combustion 68 . The HDTand VST data of the three different rPET/rPA6/OMMT nanocomposites are also presented in Table 1. The results showed that the HDT and VST of the nanocomposites were lower than those of the neat rPET/rPA6 blend by 1.3–3.1 °C and 9–35.9 °C, respectively, suggesting that the nanocomposites might soften or deform at a lower temperature. This may be because when rPA6 formed larger domain size within the nanocomposites, it tended to reduce the overall surface area available for interaction with rPET, leading to weaker interfacial adhesion. However, among the three nanocomposites, the one with 5 phr OMMT exhibited the highest HDT and VST values. This suggested that the larger and stiffer rPA6 phase possibly restricted the polymer chain mobility. DSC cooling and second heating thermograms of the three different rPET/rPA6/OMMT nanocomposites are shown in Fig. 11. Their T c , T m , ∆ H m , and χ c were also summarized in Table 2. Despite different compositions of the three nanocomposites, their cooling and heating patterns were similar. The addition of OMMT to the rPET/rPA6 blend led to the T c and T m of rPET phase being largely unaffected and closely resembling those of the neat rPET/rPA6 blend. This suggested that OMMT did not act as nucleating agent for rPET in the nanocomposites when OMMT preferentially located within the rPA6 phase. Meanwhile, a more obvious variation in T c and T m of the rPA6 phase in the nanocomposites compared with those of the neat blend was observed. The lower T c and T m values for the rPA6 phase suggested that the OMMT had a significant impact on the crystallization and melting behaviors of the rPA6, likely due to changes in the crystal structures and chain mobility. The T c of the rPA6 phase in all nanocomposites (Fig 11a) was found to be lower than that in the neat rPET/rPA6 blend by 3.2–17.2 °C. Moreover, the T c of the rPA6 phase in each nanocomposite was significantly lower than that of rPET, implying that the rPET solidified and formed crystals first, followed by the rPA6 as the temperature continued to decrease. This could be due to the hindering effect of OMMT on molecular chain mobility of rPA6. The OMMT tended to localize within the rPA6 phase, restricting the movement of rPA6 chains and delaying their crystallization, suggesting that they required more time and energy to arrange themselves into a crystalline structure. From Fig. 11b, the strong endothermic peaks observed between 212.4–215.7 °C indicated the T m of the α-form crystals of rPA6, while the weak peaks within the range of 200.5–201 °C range corresponded to the T m of the γ-form crystals. This also signified the coexistence of both crystalline forms within the materials. The lower T m of both α -and γ -form crystals of rPA6 compared with the neat blend indicated that the addition of OMMT altered the crystallization behavior of rPA6 by disrupting the perfect crystal structure formation. Specifically, the greater reduction in T m for the γ-form (7.2–7.7 °C) compared with the α-form (2.1–5.4 °C) suggested that the γ-form crystals were more significantly affected by the presence of OMMT. This could be because the γ-form is more sensitive to the presence of foreign particles or defects in the structure, or because the OMMT particles are more readily incorporated into the γ-form crystals. However, the χ c of the rPA6 component in the nanocomposites was found to be higher than that in the neat blend by 2.8–8%, which was attributed to the nucleating activity of the OMMT. Storage modulus ( E ′) and loss tangent (tan δ ) curves obtained from the DMA for rPET, rPA6, their blend (70/30 (wt%/wt%) rPET/rPA6), and nanocomposites containing OMMT over a range of temperature (30 to 170 °C) at a frequency of 1 Hz are illustrated in Fig. 12. From Fig. 12a, it is seen that the E ′ of rPET (2223 MPa) was higher than that of rPA6 (1841 MPa) at 30 °C. This was due to the more rigid molecular structure and higher crystallinity of rPET, which contributed to its greater stiffness and ability to resist deformation under stress 9, 61 . The E ′ of the rPA6/rPET blend (1610 MPa) was found to be lowered than that of either neat rPET or neat rPA6 because rPA6 disrupted the regular packing of the rPET chains, providing more free volume within the blend. This in turn facilitated chain mobility within the blend, resulting in a lower E ′. Meanwhile, the change in the E ′ of the three different nanocomposites did not display a consistent trend with varying OMMT content, indicating that the E ′ of the material was affected by the concentration of OMMT and there was an optimal loading point. Among them, the nanocomposite with 3 phr of OMMT exhibited the highest E ′ (1855 MPa), surpassing that of the neat blend. This suggested that this loading provided the optimal dispersion of OMMT within the rPA6 phase and effectively enhanced the stiffness and E ′ of the nanocomposite. Meanwhile, the nanocomposites containing 1 and 5 phr OMMT had lower E ′ (1404 and 982 MPa, respectively). This may be because 1 phr of OMMT was not enough to enhance the (E ′) of the nanocomposite, while the higher OMMT concentration (5 phr) led to the clumping of OMMT nanoparticles, forming larger aggregates within the rPA6 phase. This aggregation reduced the effective surface area of the nanoparticles interacting with the polymer matrix, resulting in a lower E ′. Thereafter, the E ′ of all the samples slowly decreased with increasing temperature due to increased chain mobility, with a more rapid drop occurring at their T g (α-relaxation) as the polymers in the amorphous regions gained enough energy for significant movement and transitioned from a rigid glassy state to a more flexible rubbery state 2,70 . However, the crystalline phases of these two semicrystalline polymers could provide residue stiffness as the temperature was above the T g 71 . Thetan δ curves for all samples are depicted in Fig. 12b. The T g of a material can be evaluated from the peak in its tan δ curve. A single T g observed in a polymer blend of rPET and rPA6, situated between their individual T g s (82.5 °C for rPET and 66.8 °C for rPA6, with a blend T g of 79 °C) was a strong indicator of polymer compatibility. This phenomenon suggested that there were sufficient intermolecular forces and mixing within the amorphous regions of the blend to create a coherent system. Besides, the T g sof the nanocomposites dropped to 73.3, 74.8, and 77.5 °C with the addition of OMMT to the rPET/rPA6 blend at 1, 3, and 5 phr, respectively. This drop suggested that the OMMT nanoparticles disrupted the polymer-polymer interactions (hydrogen bonding or potentially other interchange reactions), allowing for greater segmental motion of the polymer chains. This implied that less energy was required for the chains to move, resulting in a lower T g . Theeffects of OMMT content on the mechanical properties of the three rPET/rPA6/OMMT nanocomposites were assessed through tensile and impact tests. Theirtensile strength, Young's modulus, elongation at break, and impact strengthposites are also summarized in Table 3. It is seen that adding 1 phr of OMMT to rPET/rPA6 blend enhanced overall mechanical properties of the blend, leading to higher tensile strength (1.1-fold), Young's modulus (1-fold), elongation at break (1.1-fold), and impact strength (1.1-fold) compared with the neat blend, while also demonstrated much superior tensile strength (1.7-fold), elongation at break (1.9-fold), and impact strength (1.4-fold) relative to the neat rPET, though with a considerably lower Young's modulus (1.9-fold) . Hence, the OMMT at this specific concentration acted as a reinforcing agent that strengthened therPET/rPA6 blend. When OMMT content in nanocomposites was increased beyond an optimal level, such as at 3 and 5 phr, it caused OMMT platelets to aggregate rather than disperse, leading to the formation of weak points that acted as stress concentration sites. This consequently reduced the overall mechanical properties of the resulting nanocomposites. Conclusions In this study, rPET and rPA6 were combined to form blends, which also included OMMT in the case of nanocomposites. These materials were prepared using twin-screw extruder and injection molding machine. First, rPET/rPA6 blends at five different weight ratios (ranging from 90/10 to 50/50) were investigated for their properties. SEM depicted the phase-separated morphology on their tensile fractured surfaces, where rPET formed a continuous phase and rPA6 was dispersed as distinct spherical particles in this matrix. FTIR analysis confirmed an ester-amide exchange reaction between rPET and rPA6 during melt processing, forming PET-PA6 copolymers which acted as a compatibilizer. This resulted in a more homogeneous blends and a reduced MFI, indicating improved melt strength. TGA analysis of rPET blends incorporating rPA6 showed a detrimental effect on the thermal stability because an irregular blend morphology facilitated heat transfer through the blends and resulted in faster degradation of the materials. Besides, adding rPA6 to rPET lowered the blends’ HDT and VST because rPA6 had lower HDT and VST than rPET, and thus its lower thermal behaviors dominated the blends. From DSC cooling curves, in the rPET/rPA6 blends, the T c of rPET decreased, while the T c of rPA6 increased, when compared with their individual, neat polymers. This phenomenon occurred because rPA6 impeded the crystallization of rPET, while rPET acted as a nucleating agent for rPA6, promoting crystallization of the rPA6 at higher temperatures. From DSC second heating curves, both rPET and rPA6 showed double T m peaks in their blends, which can be according to variation in crystal size and structure, the presence of different polymorphic forms, or reorganization effects within the blends. The lower T m conformed to the melting of the less perfect or smaller crystallites, which melted first, while the higher T m related to the more perfect or larger crystallites. Moreover, adding rPA6 to rPET improved the blends’ toughness (increased tensile strength and elongation at break) but reduced their stiffness (lower Young’s modulus) compared with the neat rPET. Meanwhile, the blends at 30 and 40 wt% rPA6 had higher impact strength than neat rPET, while the blends at 10, 20, and 50 wt% had lower impact strength. For further study, the blend at 30 wt% rPA6 was selected as the base material for preparing nanocomposites with 1, 3, and 5 phr of OMMT. XRD and TEM analyses validated the formation of an exfoliated structure of OMMT within the samples. SEM image depicted that the nanocomposite with 1 phr OMMT had a uniform and pore-free morphology. The MFI decreased continuously with increasing OMMT concentration in the nanocomposites, which was consistently lower than that of neat rPET and neat rPET/rPA6 blend. Besides, all nanocomposites had a higher T onset than neat blend because the dispersed OMMT acted as barriers by forming a tortuous path within the materials, thereby delaying the heat and gas permeation into the samples. However, the presence of catalytic acidic sites and free metallic ions on clay surfaces further accelerated the polymer degradations, leading to the reduced T end-set and T max . Meanwhile, adding OMMT to the blend did not significantly alter the T c and T m of rPET phase because OMMT mainly dispersed within rPA6 phase, thus failing to act as a nucleating agent for the rPET. Moreover, rPA6 in the nanocomposites had lower T c and T m than rPET and even rPA6 in neat blend because OMMT hindered the movement of rPA6 chains, which delayed crystallization process and disrupted perfect crystal formation. Among the three nanocomposites, the one with 3 phr OMMT exhibited the highest E ′ at 30 °C due to the effective and uniform nanoparticle dispersion within the rPA6 phase. The T g of nanocomposites obtained from the tan δ peaks was lower than that of neat blend because OMMT nanoparticles disrupted the polymer-polymer interactions, leading to an increased segmental motion of polymer chains. In summary, the nanocomposite containing OMMT at 1 phr showed improved both tensile and impact properties compared to the neat rPET/rPA6 blend. But when compared to the neat rPET, this nanocomposite had much superior tensile strength, elongation at break, and impact strength, along with a lower Young's modulus. At higher concentrations (beyond 1 phr), the OMMT particles began to agglomerate and acted as stress concentration sites, leading to a reduction in the overall mechanical properties. Declarations Conflicts of Interest The author declares no conflicts of interest. Author Contribution P.C. and A.L. wrote the main manuscript text. P.C. prepared all figures and tables. P.C. is the designer of the research methodology.A.L. analyze and process data.A.L. interpret the data analysis results and synthesize the findings.All authors reviewed the manuscript. Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Rajamangala University of Technology, Metallurgy and Materials Science Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, and MTEC, National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA for financial, material and instrument support, and facility for this research work. Data Availability The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. References 1. Chuayjuljit, S., Chaiwutthinan, P., Raksaksri, L. & Boonmahitthisud, A. 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Tables Table 1 MFI, TGA, and HDT/VST- derived data of the samples Sample MFI (g/10 min) T onset (°C) T end−set (°C) T max (°C) Char (%) HDT (°C) VST (°C) rPET 73.3 413.5 447.5 437.0 14.4 68.5 200.2 rPA6 27.8 419.0 454.3 448.3 5.6 63.4 171.3 rPET/ rPA6 (wt%/wt%) 90/10 61.3 402.5 450.3 435.2 14.0 67.7 170.4 80/20 56.4 391.8 443.0 429.6 11.3 66.8 169.0 70/30 48.3 377.5 437.3 415.0 11.4 65.3 171.4 60/40 44.5 376.7 422.0 400.2 10.7 64.5 170.7 50/50 40.3 372.7 418.3 396.3 6.5 64.7 171.0 rPET/ rPA6 /OMMT (wt%/wt%/phr) 70/30/1 46.0 380.3 430.7 406.2 12.0 64.0 135.5 70/30/3 30.6 383.0 432.0 409.2 14.7 63.3 147.3 70/30/5 25.3 385.7 435.4 413.5 15.8 62.2 162.4 Table 2 DSC-derived data for the samples Sample rPET rPA6 T c (°C) T m (°C) ∆ H m (J/g) χ c, (%) T c (°C) T m (°C) ∆ H m (J/g) χ c, (%) rPET 208.3 247.5 55.2 39.4 – – – – rPA6 – – – – 171.5 210.0, 219.0 58.0 25.2 rPET/rPA6 (wt%/wt%) 90/10 200.2 238.8, 248.0 33.2 26.3 184.5 207.0, 217.0 5.3 23.0 80/20 198.4 238.0, 247.7 26.5 23.7 186.4 208.8, 218.0 10.7 26.3 70/30 201.5 238.6, 248.5 28.7 29.3 185.7 208.2, 217.8 12.8 18.6 60/40 199.3 237.4, 248.3 27.0 32.0 186.2 208.6, 218.4 16.7 18.2 50/50 203.7 230.5, 248.0 21.5 30.7 189.3 210.7, 217.2 28.7 25.0 rPET/rPA6/OMMT (wt%/wt%/phr) 70/30/1 204.2 236.3, 248.7 25.0 25.9 167.8 200.8, 212.4 15.2 21.3 70/30/3 202.2 237.0, 248.5 24.5 25.7 177.5 201.0, 214.0 14.3 21.4 70/30/5 201.3 236.8, 249.0 26.0 27.7 181.8 200.5, 215.7 17.3 25.9 Table 3 Mechanical properties of the samples Sample Tensile strength (MPa) Young’s modulus (MPa) Elongation at break (%) Impact strength (J/m) rPET 24.5 ± 2.3 4460.0 ± 51.4 1.7 ± 0.2 26.7 ± 2.3 rPA6 58.2 ± 3.0 1560.4 ± 37.3 153.4 ± 16.5 57.6 ± 4.4 rPET/rPA6 (wt%/wt%) 90/10 26.3 ± 3.0 3654.0 ± 46.5 1.9 ± 0.2 20.8 ± 1.5 80/20 29.7 ± 2.0 2594.7 ± 34.7 2.2 ± 0.1 22.6 ± 1.0 70/30 36.8 ± 2.2 2335.8 ± 22.6 3.0 ± 0.1 35.5 ± 2.0 60/40 40.6 ± 1.8 2227.2 ± 19.0 3.2 ± 0.3 35.2 ± 2.3 50/50 42.2 ± 1.7 1998.3 ± 16.2 3.6 ± 0.5 25.0 ± 2.4 rPET/rPA6/OMMT (wt%/wt%/phr) 70/30/1 40.5 ± 2.2 2366.8 ± 27.3 3.2 ± 0.8 37.3 ± 3.3 70/30/3 32.7 ± 2.3 2127.2 ± 20.8 2.6 ± 0.4 20.7 ± 2.4 70/30/5 24.3 ± 2.0 2250.3 ± 23.2 2.4 ± 0.4 18.5 ± 2.6 Schemes Scheme 1 is available in the Supplementary Files section Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. 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8","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":520734,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eRepresentative TEM images of 70/30 (wt%/wt%) rPET/rPA6 blend nanocomposites with OMMT at (a) 1 phr, (b) 3 phr, and (c) 5 phr.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"8.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8447448/v1/57a7afc9b47e0cca8b91438d.png"},{"id":100778723,"identity":"5741281a-65fb-45dc-8775-5fd6a02faed1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 11:27:42","extension":"png","order_by":9,"title":"Figure 9","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":469798,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eRepresentative SEM images of 70/30 (wt%/wt%) rPET/rPA6 blend nanocomposites with OMMT at (a) 1 phr, (b) 3 phr, and (c) 5 phr.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"9.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8447448/v1/9698cccf55a033e6a7b423e7.png"},{"id":100778849,"identity":"a7cf33da-6dd3-4d8a-992e-ef71bf059301","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 11:28:43","extension":"png","order_by":10,"title":"Figure 10","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":151160,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eThermal stability derived from (a) TGA and (b) DTG thermograms of 70/30 (wt%/wt%) rPET/rPA6 blend and its nanocomposites with OMMT at 1, 3, and 5 phr.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"10.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8447448/v1/0ba8c84dbda2a42b24d7b3d0.png"},{"id":100778794,"identity":"1f5e074f-d64e-492f-bc0c-aace4f7c27f9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 11:28:18","extension":"png","order_by":11,"title":"Figure 11","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":92670,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eDSC thermograms derived from (a) cooling and (b) second heating scan of 70/30 (wt%/wt%) rPET/rPA6 blend nanocomposites with OMMT at 1, 3, and 5 phr.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"11.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8447448/v1/2333ef74fd38feb01e86fa92.png"},{"id":100778778,"identity":"88bb3e86-afb4-4705-bc17-bae29c2ff7bf","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 11:28:06","extension":"png","order_by":12,"title":"Figure 12","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":138876,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eDMA thermograms derived in terms of (a) storage modulus\u003cstrong\u003e (\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e′) and (b) loss tangent (tan \u003cem\u003eδ\u003c/em\u003e) of rPET, rPA6, 70/30 (wt%/wt%) rPET/rPA6 blend and its nanocomposites with OMMT at 1, 3, and 5 phr.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"12.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8447448/v1/3e9d724398941d9bdad23633.png"},{"id":108437806,"identity":"ab7253a1-53c0-449a-baf7-33e7c000b59b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-04 16:03:40","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":4988515,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8447448/v1/14ae3661-84c9-425f-95f9-c9dc2978cd03.pdf"},{"id":100778970,"identity":"df0df1c8-1e22-427c-a09f-df08f074545b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 11:30:35","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":41572,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SchemeI.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8447448/v1/ae48d93f5fd3958e307e9983.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Thermomechanical recycling of post-consumer poly(ethylene terephthalate) bottles and post-industrial polyamide 6 fishing nets reinforced with organo- modified montmorillonite","fulltext":[{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eA growing global human population and rising living standards primarily lead to an increased consumption of products and goods made from petroleum-based plastics. They are produced for a wide range of applications due to their unique properties, such as versatility, light weight, durability, cost-effectiveness, and resistance to corrosion and chemicals\u003csup\u003e1\u0026ndash;7\u003c/sup\u003e. These make them indispensable across many industries, including packaging, construction, electronics, agriculture, fishery, and healthcare. Some plastics are used as substitutes for traditional materials like metal, ceramics, glass, woods, and natural fibers. The non-biodegradable nature of plastics leads to their persistence in the environment for centuries and accumulation in every ecosystem. This pollution has widespread impacts, from physical degradation of ecosystems to potential harm to wildelife\u0026nbsp;and human through ingestion and inhalation\u003csup\u003e8\u0026ndash;11\u003c/sup\u003e. Various sources of plastic wastes, including industrial, commercial, agricultural, and household activities are often disposed\u0026nbsp;of in landfills alongside other municipal solid wastes (MSW). However, the limitation in landfilling capacity, couple with the leachate and ground pollution, are leading to significant problems, including low groundwater quality and broader contamination of the local environment\u003csup\u003e5\u003c/sup\u003e. While incineration offers an alternative to landfills and generates energy, it releases harmful air pollutants like dioxins, furans, heavy metal, and particulate matter, which pose severe risks to human health and environmental hazards.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMechanical recycling is a highly effective method to reduce plastic wastes ending up in landfills or incineration plants, to conserve natural resources and energy, to reduce the use of commercial raw materials, and to enhance the market value by producing new value-added products\u003csup\u003e4\u0026ndash;7,12\u0026ndash;14\u003c/sup\u003e. The process involves different steps, including collection, sorting, washing, drying grinding (or shredding), and then either pelletizing or compounding, which reprocesses the materials into new products\u003csup\u003e3,5,7,10,12\u003c/sup\u003e. Consumer demand for recycled materials, particularly engineering plastics like recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (rPET) and recycled polyamide 6 (rPA6) has enhanced due to increased environmental awareness and a desire to reduce plastic pollution. Post-consumer waste refers to used products discarded by consumers after their use, such as plastic bottles or packagings, while post-industrial waste is generated during the manufacturing process, like plastic scraps, offcuts, and rejected materials from a production line. Both wastes can serve as potential raw materials for creating cost-effective products. The interest in rPET stems from its prevalence in MSW and its high recyclability\u003csup\u003e14,15\u003c/sup\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePET is a widely used thermoplastic polymer for food packaging, such as bottles, films, trays, and container due to its non-toxicity, strength, clarity, good barrier properties (against gas and moisture), and low cost\u003csup\u003e1,2,10,\u003c/sup\u003e\u003csup\u003e15\u0026ndash;17\u003c/sup\u003e. A major challenge encountered during mechanical recycling is the degradation of rPET induced by heat, stress, and moisture, leading to a decrease in its molecular weight through the random scission at the ester linkages and the formation of polar carboxyl and hydroxyl end groups\u003csup\u003e9,10,14,15,17\u003c/sup\u003e. This consequently reduces its intrinsic viscosity and melt strength, which in turn negatively impacts the toughness, moldability, and mechanical properties\u003csup\u003e10,14,17\u003c/sup\u003e. Meanwhile,\u0026nbsp;shorter polymer chains have better mobility, which can alter the crystallization behavior of the rPET\u003csup\u003e10\u003c/sup\u003e.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePolymer blends and composites are excellent strategies to enhance recyclability and performance\u0026nbsp;of rPET by leveraging its properties with other materials\u003csup\u003e9,16\u003c/sup\u003e. Blending rPET with other recycled plastics is indeed a cost-effective process that attracts significant attention from researchers and manufacturers because it can improve mechanical properties and reduce overall production costs and environmental impact. Post-industrial waste typically possesses favorable physical properties like homogeneity, known compositions, minimal contaminants, and constant quality\u003csup\u003e5\u003c/sup\u003e.\u0026nbsp;In this work,\u0026nbsp;post-industrial rPA6 from waste fishing nets were used to regain the properties of post-consumer rPET bottles through melt blending. In the modern-day, PA6, an important fiber-forming polymer, is commonly used in the production of fishing net owing to its high strength, durability, ability to stretch, resistance to UV radiation, low friction coefficient, etc., making it as a useful material in a variety of fishing environments\u003csup\u003e7,18\u0026ndash;20\u003c/sup\u003e. Besides, its high water absorption also increases the sinking speed of the nets during fishing. Annually, a large amount of worn-out and impaired fishing nets is sorted and collected in the production factory. Blending rPET with rPA6 is thus more ecological, economical, and suitable for industrialized production. This work was firstly carried out to identify the optimum rPA6 content in the blend for further preparing nanocomposites with a small amount of nanoclay (up to 5 parts by weight per hundred of resin, phr) in an attempt to improve the final product properties. The addition of inorganic nanofillers to polymeric materials is a well-known technique to obtain a promising class of nanocomposites by improving or modifying some of their properties.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmong the layered silicates, montmorillonite (MMT) is the most predominantly used in the preparation of polymer-clay nanocomposites due to its natural occurrence, abundance, low cost, eco-friendliness, and high aspect ratio, which provides great possibility of energy transfer from one phase to another\u003csup\u003e21\u003c/sup\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003c/sup\u003e\u003csup\u003e25\u003c/sup\u003e. It is a member of the smectite group (2:1 phyllosilicate) with a three-layer crystal sheet, consisting of two silica tetrahrdral sheets sandwiching a central octahedral sheet of either magnesium or aluminum hydroxide\u003csup\u003e22,24\u003c/sup\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003c/sup\u003e\u003csup\u003e28\u003c/sup\u003e. The plate-like structure of MMT with a thickness of around 1 nm often offer a remarkable improvement in material properties such as mechanical, thermal, barrier, and flame-retardant properties even at low clay loadings (\u0026lt;10 wt%) because of the high aspect ratio (100\u0026ndash;1500) and the extremely large surface area (700\u0026ndash;800 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e/g) of the dispersed phase\u003csup\u003e21,23,28,\u003c/sup\u003e\u003csup\u003e29\u003c/sup\u003e. However, the dispersion of hydrophilic MMT in organophilic engineering polymers during processing is not easily accomplished\u003csup\u003e24,25,27,30\u003c/sup\u003e. Compatibility is commonly improved through the cationic-exchange reaction of the Na\u003csup\u003e+\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sup\u003eand Ca\u003csup\u003e+2\u003c/sup\u003e residing in the interlayer regions (galleries) with a set of long chain organic cations such as alkylamonium and alkylphosphonium ions to yield more organophilic surface, exhibiting lower surface energy and higher affinity with a broad range of polymer matrices\u003csup\u003e23,25,27,30\u003c/sup\u003e. The exchanged cations located inside the interlayers of the organically modified MMT (OMMT) not only impart compatibility more readily with polymer but also enlarge the clay interlayer distance (\u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e-spacing)\u003csup\u003e24,25,28,30\u003c/sup\u003e. This facilitates the polymer chains to penetrate into the interstices of the clay galleries, providing a preferable intercalation and/or exfoliation of the MMT platelets, which offers a superior energy or stress transfer from one phase to another and consequently yields nanocomposites with improved mechanical properties\u003csup\u003e23,27,3\u003c/sup\u003e\u003csup\u003e1\u003c/sup\u003e. Meanwhile, many studies have been reported on the acting of OMMT as compatibilizing agent in immiscible polymer blends\u003csup\u003e32,33\u003c/sup\u003e. This is because the OMMT functionalized by an intercalating agent has an affinity for each of the polymers. Thus, the addition of small amount of OMMT can also manipulate the morphology and performance of the blends. Besides, the clay nanocomposites can be produced through melt compounding with the existing processing technologies and equipments, such as twin screw extruder and injection molding. The properties of the prepared samples in terms of melt flow index (MFI), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Heat distortion and Vicat softening temperature (HDT and VST), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), mechanical properties, and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) were comparatively investigated.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Materials and Methods","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMaterials\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePost-consumer rPET flakes (Fig. 1a) obtained from drinking water bottles were used as the main component. Post-industrial rPA6 pelagic fishing net scraps (Fig. 1b) were supplied by Siam Brother Enterprise Co., Ltd. (Thailand). The received scraps were extruded into water (Fig. 2a) and cut into pellets (Fig. 2b) before compounding. Commercial OMMT (Cloisite\u003csup\u003e\u0026reg;\u003c/sup\u003e 30B) was purchased from Southern Clay Products, Inc. (USA). It is a natural MMT organically modified with 30% of a methyltallow\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;bis\u003c/em\u003e-\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e-hydroxyethyl quaternary ammonium salt\u003csup\u003e23,34,35\u003c/sup\u003e. Accordingto the manufacturer data, Cloisite\u003csup\u003e\u0026reg;\u003c/sup\u003e 30B has a specific gravity of 1.98 g/cm\u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e, a cationic exchange capacity of 90 meq/100 g clay and a \u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e001\u003c/sub\u003e of 1.85 nm. All the materials were used as received without further modification.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSample preparation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll the components (rPET, rPA6, and OMMT) were separately oven-dried overnight at 100 \u0026deg;C to eliminate the residual moisture prior to melt blending on an LTE-26-40 twin-screw extruder (Labtech Engineering, Thailand); screw diameter was 26 mm and \u003cem\u003eL/D\u003c/em\u003e ratio was 40/1. The temperature profile, starting from the feed zone to the die, was 260, 265, 260, 257, 255, 250, 245, 230, 210, and 200 \u0026deg;C with the extrusion speed of 60 rpm. The obtained extrudates were cooled in water, pelletized and then dehumidified before fabricating into the standard test specimens on the Battenfield BA 250 CDC injection molding machine (Germany) under a temperature profile of 270, 260, 250, and 240 \u0026deg;C. The rPET/rPA6 weight ratios were considered at 90/10, 80/20, 70/30, 60/40, and 50/50. The blend with optimum combination of mechanical properties was melt mixed with three loading levels (1, 3, and 5 phr) of OMMT using the same process conditions thereafter.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTesting and characterization\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eScanning electron microscopy\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe morphology of tensile fractured specimens was\u0026nbsp;examined by SEM using a JEOL JSM-6480 LV instrument (Japan) under an accelerating voltage of 15 kV with a magnification of\u0026nbsp;\u0026acute;2,000. Prior to imaging, the fractured surface was sputter-coated with a thin layer of gold under vacuum to enhance electrical conductivity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFourier transform-infrared spectroscopy\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analyses were conducted to record IR spectra of rPET, rPA6, and their blends using a Nicolet 6700 FT-IR spectrometer from Thermo Fisher Scientific (USA). Each spectrum of the sample was recorded within the frequency range of 4,000 to 400 cm\u003csup\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003c/sup\u003e\u003csup\u003e1\u003c/sup\u003e with 4 cm\u003csup\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003c/sup\u003e\u003csup\u003e1\u003c/sup\u003e resolution and 64 repetitious scans.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMelt flow index\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheMFI was measured using a capillary plastometer (Kayeness 7053 Indexer, USA) at 260 \u0026deg;C under a constant load of 2.16 kg in accordance with ASTM D1238. The MFI value was expressed as the amount (g) of the sample, extruding through a die of standard dimension (8 mm in length and 2.1 mm in diameter)for 10 min. The result was the average of three measurements.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThermogravimetric analyzer\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo measure the thermal stability of the samples, TGA analysis under N\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e atmosphere was performed on a Mettler Toledo TGA/SDTA 851\u003csup\u003ee\u003c/sup\u003e analyzer (Switzerland) with a gas flow rate of 20 mL/min to avoid a thermo-oxidative degradation and to remove corrosive gases involved in the degradation. The measurement was conducted over the temperature range from 50 to 700 \u0026deg;C at a heating rate of 20 \u0026deg;C/min. The temperatures for onset (\u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eonset\u003c/sub\u003e), end-set (\u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eend-set\u003c/sub\u003e), maximum degradation (\u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003emax\u003c/sub\u003e), and the char residue (%char) were reported.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHeat distortion and Vicat-softening temperature\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe HDT and VST measurements were carried out according to ASTM D648 and ASTM D1525, respectively. Typically, the HDT evaluates the deflection temperature under flexural load, whilst the VST examines the softening temperature under point load. For the HDT test, a constant stress (1.82 MPa) was applied at the center of a rectangular sample (12.7 \u0026times; 127 \u0026times; 3 mm)\u0026nbsp;which was placed in a thermally-controlled silicone oil bath of the HDT/VICAT heat deflection tester (Ceast 6911, Italy)\u003csup\u003e36,37\u003c/sup\u003e. TheHDT was achieved at the 0.25 mm deflection upon heating the sample at a rate of 2 \u0026deg;C/min from RT\u003csup\u003e36,37\u003c/sup\u003e. In the VST test, the sample (10 \u0026times; 10 \u0026times; 3 mm) was also placed in the same silicone oil bath for which the temperature was raised at a rate of 2 \u0026deg;C/min from RT. The VST was taken as the temperature at which a needle tip under a standardized loading of 50 N penetrated exactly 1 mm into the specimen\u003csup\u003e36,37\u003c/sup\u003e.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDifferential scanning calorimetry\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThethermal and crystallization behaviors of each sample were evaluated by DSC on a Mettler Toledo DSC 1 STAR System instrument (Switzerland). The sample(~10 mg) was heated from room temperature (RT) to 300 \u0026deg;C (first heating scan) and held isothermally for 5 min to erase any previous thermal history of the material and then cooled down to the RT (cooling scan) and lastly reheated to 300 \u0026deg;C (second heating scan). Theexperiment was carried out at the same heating/cooling rate (10 \u0026deg;C/min) under a nitrogen (N\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e) atmosphere with a gas flow rate of 60 mL/min throughout the experiment. From the cooling and second heating curves, the crystallization temperature (\u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e), melting temperature (\u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e) and melting enthalpy (∆\u003cem\u003eH\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e) of the sample were reported, while the degree of crystallinity (\u0026chi;\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e) of either rPET or rPA6 in the sample was separately evaluated by Eq. 1;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026chi;\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e (%) = [∆\u003cem\u003eH\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e/∆\u003cem\u003eH\u003c/em\u003e\u0026deg;\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003ew]\u0026acute; 100 \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;(1)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ewhere \u0026Delta;\u003cem\u003eH\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003eo\u003c/sup\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e is the melting enthalpy of the 100% crystalline rPET (140 J/g)\u003csup\u003e14,38,3\u003c/sup\u003e\u003csup\u003e9\u003c/sup\u003e and rPA6 (230 J/g)\u003csup\u003e40,41\u003c/sup\u003e,\u0026nbsp;and w is the weight fraction of each component in the sample.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMechanical properties\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tensile test was carried out on a dumbbell-shaped specimen using a Universal Materials Testing Machine (LR10k \u003cem\u003eplus\u003c/em\u003e, LLOYD, UK), according to the ASTM D638 Type I standard. The load cell capacity and crosshead speed were 10 kN and 50 mm/min, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA notched Izod impact test was performed on a sample (12.7 \u0026times; 63.5 \u0026times; 3 mm) using a Gotech GT-7045-MD pendulum impact tester with a 2-joule hammer, following the ASTM D 256 standard.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eX-ray diffraction\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe structure and interlayer spacing (\u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e001\u003c/sub\u003e) of OMMT were evaluated by means of XRD using a Bruker-AXS D8 Discover diffractometer (USA). The X-ray beam was Cu-K\u003csub\u003e\u0026alpha;\u003c/sub\u003e (\u003cem\u003e\u0026lambda;\u003c/em\u003e = 0.1542 nm) radiation, operated at 40 kV and 40 mA. Samples were scanned over a 2\u003cem\u003e\u0026theta;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003erange of 1\u0026ndash;10\u003csup\u003eo\u003c/sup\u003e using a scan rate of 0.05\u0026deg;/sec. The \u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e001\u003c/sub\u003e was determined by the diffraction peak position, according to Bragg\u0026rsquo;s equation (Eq. 2):\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026lambda;\u003c/em\u003e = 2\u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e sin\u003cem\u003e\u0026theta; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;(2)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTransmission electron microscopy\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe morphology of nanocomposites was observed by TEM measurement on a Philips Tecnai 20 (USA), operating at an accelerating voltage of 120 kV. The samples with ultra-thin section of about 120 nm in thickness were prepared using a Leica ultracut microtome with a diatome diamond knife.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDynamic mechanical analysis\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dynamic mechanical properties of nanocomposites, including storage modulus \u003cstrong\u003e(\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e\u0026prime;) and loss tangent (tan \u003cem\u003e\u0026delta;\u003c/em\u003e) were investigated on a rectangular sample (10 \u0026times; 40 \u0026times; 3 mm) using a DMA 242 E Artemis (Germany) under a single-cantilever bending mode at a constant frequency of 1 Hz and a heating rate of 2 \u0026deg;C/min over a temperature range from 30 to 170 \u0026deg;C.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Results and Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCharacterization of the rPET/rPA6 blends\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRepresentative SEM images of the tensile fractured surfaces for rPET, rPA6, and rPET/rPA6 \u0026nbsp;blends at ×2000 magnification are all illustrated in Fig\u003cstrong\u003e.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e3. Theneat rPET revealed unidirectional low ridges on a smooth and homogeneous surface without any domain separation (Fig. 3a), suggesting its low toughness. Meanwhile, a rougher texture of the neat rPA6 (Fig. 3b) indicated its higher ductility. This implied that rPET was more prone to brittleness compared with rPA6. Whenthese two polymers were blended, the resulting morphology exhibited a rougher surface, and this roughness was influenced by the blending ratio (Fig. 3c–g). The fractured surfaces for all the blends demonstrated a two-phase morphology, characterized by a “sea-island” structure, where a\u0026nbsp;minor component (in this case, rPA6) with higher viscosity formed\u0026nbsp;dispersed spherical droplets or particles within a continuous matrix of the major component (rPET)\u003csup\u003e42,43\u003c/sup\u003e. The size and distribution of rPA6 domains within rPET blends are indeed affected by the relative amounts of each polymer. Although they are thermodynamically immiscible, their morphological stability is likely due to strong interactions between the ester groups of rPET and the amine groups of rPA6, primarily through hydrogen bonding and in-situ interchange reactions\u003csup\u003e19,44,45\u003c/sup\u003e. This should account for a stable and finely dispersed blend morphology. The blend with 10 wt% rPA6 exhibited a favorable morphology on its fractured surface, featuring fine, spherical rPA6 particles, and reduced flaws and grooves compared with blends with higher rPA6 contents (Fig. 3c). The size of the dispersed domains gradually increased as the amount of rPA6 increased, according to its coalescence. This typically occurs in immiscible polymer blends when the interfacial tension between the two phases is relatively low. The observation of large flaws and grooves on the fractured surfaces of the blends with higher rPA6 contents\u0026nbsp;(Figs. 3f and 3g) implied a decline in the compatibility between the rPET and rPA6 phases. Moreover, some rPA6 aggregates were pulled out during tensile testing, leaving voids on the undulated fractured surface. This may be because the increased strength and number of hydrogen bonding in rPA6 phase, either between different molecules (intermolecular) or within the same molecule (intramolecular) reduced the interfacial adhesion between rPET and rPA6 or the rate of the interchange reactions at their interface. Therefore, the strong interconnections within rPA6 phase can strengthen the rPA6 droplets and prevented them from easily moving and dispersing throughout the rPET matrix. As a result, the rPA6 domains remained spherical and did not break up or deform significantly during injection molding. This in turn caused the rPA6 droplets essentially being trapped within the rPET matrix during the cooling and solidification processes.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFTIR spectra of rPET, rPA6, and rPET/rPA6 blends in the wavenumber range of 3500–1000 cm\u003csup\u003e-1\u003c/sup\u003e are shown in Fig. 4. Typical characteristic peaks of rPET include symmetric stretching vibration of methylene group at 2853 cm\u003csup\u003e–1\u003c/sup\u003e, the C=O stretching vibration of the ester group at 1710 cm\u003csup\u003e–1\u003c/sup\u003e, C–O–C stretching at 1237 cm\u003csup\u003e–1\u003c/sup\u003e, and asymmetric stretching vibration of the methyl (CH\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e–) and methylene groups (–CH\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e–) at 2962 cm\u003csup\u003e–1\u003c/sup\u003e and 2925 cm\u003csup\u003e–1\u003c/sup\u003e, respectively\u003csup\u003e19,46–48\u003c/sup\u003e. Meanwhile, rPA6 present characteristic peaks at 3297 cm\u003csup\u003e–1\u003c/sup\u003e (N–H stretching), 2930 cm\u003csup\u003e–1\u003c/sup\u003e and 2859 cm\u003csup\u003e–1\u003c/sup\u003e (–CH\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e– stretching), 1635 cm\u003csup\u003e–1\u003c/sup\u003e (C=O stretching, amide I) and 1538 cm\u003csup\u003e–1\u003c/sup\u003e (N–H bending and C–N stretching, amide II)\u003csup\u003e49–51\u003c/sup\u003e. Allthe characteristic peaks of rPET and rPA6 were also present in their blends. Inthe blends, a slight displacement of the C=O and N–H peaks of rPA6 and the C=O of rPET suggested the existence of hydrogen bonding or trans-esterification reactions between the ester-amine groups of rPET and rPA6\u003csup\u003e19,42,52\u003c/sup\u003e. The in-situ reactions occurred \u0026nbsp;by means of their reactive functional groups located inside the chains (–CO–O– and –CO–NH–) and/or at chain ends (–OH, –COOH and –NH\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e) during melt mixing, resulting in the formation of PET-PA6 copolymers\u003csup\u003e30,45,52,53\u003c/sup\u003e. Thereaction preferentially takes place at the interfaces between the rPET and rPA6, forming PET-PA6 copolymers in situ. The produced copolymers may act as compatibilizing layers at phase boundaries, further improving their compatibility. Besides,the intensities of the C=O and N–H peaks of the blends were found to be lower than those of the neat rPET and rPA6, according to the consumption of esters via reaction with amines. Marchikitiet al.\u003csup\u003e53\u003c/sup\u003e proposed the aminolysis reaction between esters in PET and secondary amines in PA6 when processed at elevated temperature, as delineated in Scheme I. Asa result,the amide groups were randomly introduced along the backbone of rPET, which subsequently reduced the regularity of the rPET molecules\u003csup\u003e17\u003c/sup\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMFI is one of the significant processing parameters and quality control measurements for thermoplastic polymers. Thedata summarized in Table 1 revealed a very high MFI of the neat rPET (73.3g/10 min), indicating low melt viscosity and resistance to flow, as a consequence of molecular chain scission and subsequent reduction in molecular weight caused by thermal and mechanical degradations during processing under high temperature and shear stress\u003csup\u003e54\u003c/sup\u003e. This led to the increased flowability, deteriorated mechanical strength, and poor workability. In rPET/rPA6 blends, increasing the rPA6 content (10–50 wt%) led to a continuous decrease in the MFI of the blend compared with the neat rPET. This reduction, ranging from 1.2- to 1.8-fold, indicated that thedispersed rPA6 phase restricted the movement of rPET molecules in the blend, effectively increasing the melt viscosity. The observed reduction in MFI of the blends was reasonable, because rPA6 had a significantly lower MFI (27.8 g/10 min) compared with rPET, when measured under the same conditions. The reduced MFI was indeed likely caused by a combination of hydrogen bonding and interchange reactions that contributed to a higher molecular weight, increased entanglement, and improved compatibility between rPET and rPA6\u003csup\u003e31,45\u003c/sup\u003e.Moreover,the increased size of rPA6 droplets could hinder the smooth flow of the molten blend during processing. Hence,the addition of rPA6 to rPET can help to partially offset the decrease in molecular weight and melt strength that typically occurs during rPET processing, allowing it to be reprocessed into new products at high temperature.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe TGA and derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) curves for rPET, rPA6, and rPET/rPA6 blends are depicted in Fig. 5, whilst their thermal degradation data, including \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eonset\u003c/sub\u003e, \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eend-set\u003c/sub\u003e, \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003emax\u003c/sub\u003e and char residue at 700\u0026nbsp;°C\u0026nbsp;are also summarized in Table 1. It is seen that all the samples underwent one step of mass loss related to polymer degradation, which was mainly attributed to the random chain scission\u003csup\u003e1,55,56\u003c/sup\u003e. The TGA curves showed no significant weight loss up to the \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eonset\u003c/sub\u003e, followed by a sharp weight loss (steep slope) up to the\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eend-set\u003c/sub\u003e. The neat rPET and rPA6 exhibited their main step of degradations (\u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eonset\u003c/sub\u003e\u003cem\u003e–T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eend-set\u003c/sub\u003e) in the temperature ranges of 413.5–447.5\u0026nbsp;°C and 419–454.3\u0026nbsp;°C, along with the \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003emax\u003c/sub\u003e at 437 and 448.3°C, respectively, suggesting that rPET had lower thermal stability than rPA6. The\u0026nbsp;chain scission\u0026nbsp;of rPET and rPA6\u0026nbsp;at the ester (-COO-) and amide (NH-CO-) links\u0026nbsp;proceeded predominantly in the amorphous regions, which resulted in a decrease in their molecular weight\u003csup\u003e1,55\u003c/sup\u003e.\u0026nbsp;The char residue content for the neat rPET and rPA6 was about 14.4 and 5.6 wt%, respectively, indicating that rPET had higher char-forming ability and rPA6 degraded almost complete in one sharp step\u003csup\u003e7\u003c/sup\u003e. It has been reported that PET can generate a large amount of carbonaceous residue in a N\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e atmosphere\u003csup\u003e57\u003c/sup\u003e. From Fig. 5 and Table 1, the mass loss of all the\u0026nbsp;rPET/rPA6 blends was in between 372.7\u0026nbsp;°C and 450.3\u0026nbsp;°C. The single degradation peak implied the homogeneity of the compounded rPET\u003csup\u003e14\u003c/sup\u003e. As can be seen, the addition of rPA6 (10–50 wt%) to\u0026nbsp;rPET\u0026nbsp;did not improve the thermal stability of the blends\u0026nbsp;as a result of\u0026nbsp;their irregular morphology (Fig. 3) that allowed the heat to easily penetrate into the inner part. The \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eonset\u003c/sub\u003e,\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eend-set\u003c/sub\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003emax\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sub\u003eof the blends were observed in the ranges of 372.7–402.5\u0026nbsp;°C, 418.3–450.3\u0026nbsp;°C, and 396.3–435.2\u0026nbsp;°C, respectively, whilst their char residue (6.5–14%) decreased with increasing rPA6 content. However, the obtained results implied that all the samples did not degrade and could maintain their thermal stability\u0026nbsp;during the experimental processing (extrusion and injection molding).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo evaluate the heat resistance of rigid plastics, HDT and VST tests were performed in this study. The criteria that affect the HDT and VST values include compactness (stiffness), glass transition temperature, and crystallinity of polymeric materials\u003csup\u003e58–60\u003c/sup\u003e. As tabulated in Table 1, both HDT and VST of the neat rPET were superior to those of the neat rPA6 (5.1 ℃ and 28.9 ℃, respectively), which may be due to the rigid molecular structure and the higher crystallinity of rPET\u003csup\u003e61\u003c/sup\u003e. Evidently, the HDT and VST of all the rPET/rPA6 blends were lower than those of the neat rPET, according to the lower HDT and VST values of the added rPA6. As can be observed, the variation in both HDT and VST with blend compositions followed the same trend. Besides, there was little change in these values with increasing rPA6 content because the rPA6 phases were mostly dispersed as droplets inside the rPET matrix.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDSC was used to analyze the crystallization and melting behaviors of the prepared samples. Fig. 6shows the DSC cooling and second heating thermograms of rPET, rPA6, and rPET/rPA6 blends. Thecorresponding thermal data, including \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e, \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e, ∆\u003cem\u003eH\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e, and χ\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e,\u0026nbsp;for various compositions are summarized in Table 2. From the cooling curves (Fig. 6a), the neat rPET and rPA6 revealed their \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e peaks around 208.3 °C and 171.5 °C, respectively, according to the melt-crystallization process, which occurred after erasing their thermal history in the first heating scan. Thisimpliedthat each polymer had enough time to move and organize into a crystalline structure upon cooling at 10 °C/min. TherPET exhibited a sharp \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e peak, while the rPA6 showed a broad and shallow \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e peak at a lower temperature. The sharp \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e peak suggests a relatively rapid and well-defined crystallization process, indicating a more uniform and ordered structure formation during crystallization. The broad and shallow \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e peak indicates a less defined and slower crystallization process, which may be due to chain entanglement, slower molecular mobility or the presence of impurities in the recycled material. Inall rPET/rPA6 blending ratios, the \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e peaks of rPET and rPA6 were clearly seenin the range of 198.4–203.7 °C and 184.5–189.3 °C, respectively, indicating that the rPET component had higher crystallization rate and thus crystallized first in the blend. Thismay be because themolecular chain shorteningof rPET facilitatedthechain mobility and alignment in the crystalline domain\u003csup\u003e10,12,37\u003c/sup\u003e. As they crystallized separately, the two distinct phases co-existed in the blends, where the fine dispersion of rPA6 droplets in the rPET matrix was observed via the SEM images (Fig. 3).This is a typical crystallization behavior of two immiscible semicrystalline polymers.The\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e of rPET in the blends was found to be lower than that of the neat rPET because its molecular chain movement required for crystallization from the molten state was disrupted by the rPA6 phase and also by the copolymers formed via the trans-condensation reaction between ester and amine groups\u003csup\u003e45\u003c/sup\u003e. Meanwhile, the\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e peak of rPA6 in the blends gradually turned into a more obvious peak and also shifted to a higher temperature with increasing rPA6 content when compared with that of the neat rPA6. Thisfinding may be due to the nucleating activity of the already crystallized rPET that initiated the crystallization of rPA6.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFromFig. 6b,only endothermic melting transition can be observed on the second heating curve of these two polymers. The neat rPETrevealeda single\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e at 247.5 °C, while rPET in all blends showed double \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e peaks with different intensities, which were attributed to the melting-recrystallization-remelting process. This phenomenon was due to the partial melting of imperfect or less stable crystals, exhibiting a small shoulder in the DSC curves between 230.5–238.8\u0026nbsp;°C. The rPET chains, now in a more mobile state, could then rearrange and recrystallize into more stable crystals at a slightly higher temperature, using the remaining crystals as templates\u003csup\u003e15,17,36,62\u003c/sup\u003e. The newly formed crystals then remelted at around 248\u0026nbsp;°C, leading to the\u0026nbsp;more obvious second melting peak. Meanwhile, the neat rPA6 sample exhibited two distinct melting peaks of the two common crystalline forms: a smaller peak at 210 °C representing the γ-form and a larger peak at 219 °C representing the α-form. The α-form of rPA6 is thermodynamically more stable due to its highly ordered crystal structure, but the γ-form is often observed to form more readily under certain conditions\u003csup\u003e63,64\u003c/sup\u003e. This preference for the γ-form is attributed to its faster crystallization kinetics, indicating that it can form more quickly than the more stable α-form. This observation signified the coexistence of both crystalline forms within the rPA6, which is a common phenomenon in polymorphic system\u003csup\u003e28,50,63,64\u003c/sup\u003e.\u0026nbsp;A similarbehavior was also exhibited in the blends, two melting peaks of rPA6 were observed within the narrow temperature ranges of 207–210.7\u0026nbsp;°C\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;217–218.4\u0026nbsp;°C.However,\u0026nbsp;the major \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e of\u0026nbsp;rPET and rPA6\u0026nbsp;in their blends remained similar to\u0026nbsp;their respective neat resins, suggesting that the two polymers formed separated phases within the blends. During the cooling of a blend from the molten state, rPET solidified first because it had a higher \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e. This led to the rPA6, still molten, dispersing as droplets within the solidified rPET matrix.\u0026nbsp;As the rPA6 eventually solidified, these droplets were trapped or fixed within the solid rPET structure\u003csup\u003e17\u003c/sup\u003e.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the study,the ∆\u003cem\u003eH\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e values of the polymers shown in Table 2 were used to evaluate their \u003cem\u003eχ\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e, using Eq. 2. The\u0026nbsp;neat rPET\u0026nbsp;exhibited a higher \u003cem\u003eχ\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e(approximately 39.4%) compared with the neat rPA6 (25.2%), suggesting that the\u0026nbsp;rPET\u0026nbsp;chains had a greater tendency to arrange themselves in an ordered crystalline structure.\u0026nbsp;In blends of rPET and rPA6, their\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;χ\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e values\u0026nbsp;were observed to be lower than those of the corresponding neat resins. The results showed that the \u003cem\u003eχ\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e of\u0026nbsp;rPET\u0026nbsp;in the blend ranged from 23.7% to 32%, while the \u003cem\u003eχ\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e of\u0026nbsp;rPA6 ranged from 18.2 to 26.3%. The lower values could be due to the mutual physical interference between the crystallization processes of the two polymers. The growth of crystal of one polymer can physically impede the growth of the other, hindering the formation of a well-defined crystalline structure in the blend, leading to a reduction in the overall \u003cem\u003eχ\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e values\u003csup\u003e45\u003c/sup\u003e. Furthermore,the formation of copolymers in the blends had disrupted the symmetry and regularity of the polymer chains, making it more difficult for them to align and pack into a crystalline structure\u003csup\u003e17,65\u003c/sup\u003e.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe mechanical properties of rPET, rPA6, and their blends with five different weight ratios in terms of tensile strength,\u0026nbsp;Young's modulus, elongation at break,\u0026nbsp;and impact strength are listed in Table 3. It is evident that neat\u0026nbsp;rPET exhibited rather poor mechanical properties, particularly low tensile strength (24.5 MPa), elongation at break\u0026nbsp;(1.7%), and impact strength (26.7 J/m) along with a high Young’s modulus (4460 MPa). The combination of these properties suggested that rPET, in its basic form, was brittle, stiff, and not very strong or flexible, implying that it was likely to break easily under stress, and it did not deform or stretch much before fracturing. The rPET exhibits high stiffness due to the presence of aromatic rings within its molecular structure and the potential for crystallization during processing\u003csup\u003e9,61\u003c/sup\u003e. The described mechanical properties indicated that neat rPET was not suitable for applications requiring strength, flexibility, or resistance to impact. The addition of rPA6 to rPET resulted in the blends with improved tensile strength and elongation at break as the rPA6 content increased. However, these enhancements came at the expense of reduced Young’s modulus,\u0026nbsp;indicating that the blends became tougher but less rigid.\u0026nbsp;This is because rPA6 has a more flexible and resilient molecular structure. Hence, these findings indicated that rPA6 offered its high tensile strength (58.2 MPa), high elongation at break (153.4%), and low Young's modulus (1560.4 MPa) to the\u0026nbsp;blends. However, blending rPET with a small amount of rPA6, specifically 10 and 20 wt% led to a slight increase in the tensile strength (1.1- and 1.2-fold, respectively) and elongation at break (1.1- and 1.3-fold, respectively) of the blends compared with neat rPET. This was due to an insufficient dispersion of the rPA6 within the rPET matrix and a poor stress transfer between the two polymer phases that limited the improvement of mechanical properties. Meanwhile, a notable increase in the tensile strength (1.5- to 1.7-fold) and elongation at break (1.8- to 2.1-fold) of the blends could be achieved at rPA6 loadings ranging from 30 to 50 wt%. This implied that the blends became stronger and more resistant to deformation under tension. Besides, the blends were more capable of stretching before breaking. This suggested a composition range where the reinforcing effect of rPA6 was pronounced. In contrast, the Young’s modulus, a measure of stiffness, decreased (1.2- to 2.2-fold) across the entire composition range tested. Although rPA6 had a high impact strength (57.6 J/m), incorporating rPA6 into rPET at 10 and 20 wt% led to a reduction in the impact strength (1.3- and 1.2-fold, respectively) of the blends. This behavior was likely due to a deficient or poor dispersion of the rPA6 within the rPET matrix. Thus, the rPA6 particles could not be evenly distributed, leading to stress concentrations within the blends. Meanwhile, blends with 30 and 40 wt% rPA6 exhibited higher impact strength than neat rPET by about 1.3-fold, due to a better dispersion rPA6. However, a 50 wt% blend rPA6 showed lower impact strength than neat rPET by 1.1-fold because excessive rPA6 led to agglomeration and reduced contact area, negatively impacting the impact resistance of the blend. Therefore, the inclusion of rPA6 into rPET in appropriate ratios can indeed improve the mechanical properties of the resulting blends, particularly enhancing both its strength and toughness. For further study, therPET/rPA6 blend with 30 wt% rPA6 was selected for preparing nanocomposites with three different loadings of OMMT (1, 3, and 5 phr) because it offered a balance between mechanical performance and cost- effectiveness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCharacterization of the rPET/rPA6/OMMT blend nanocomposites\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXRDpatterns in theobserved 2\u003cem\u003eθ\u003c/em\u003e range (1.5° to 10°) for OMMT and the 70/30 (wt%/wt%) rPET/rPA6 blend nanocomposites containing 1, 3, and 5 phr OMMT are shown in Fig. 7. Thesilicate-interlayer spacing (\u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e) of OMMT was determined using Bragg’s equation (Eq. 2) and the position of the (001) peak (expressed as 2\u003cem\u003eθ\u003c/em\u003e) in the XRD diffractogram. Thebroad peak at 2\u003cem\u003eθ\u003c/em\u003e = 4.8° of OMMTcorresponded to a \u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e001\u003c/sub\u003e of 18.4 Å. Meanwhile, the disappearance of this peak in the nanocomposites, despite the presence of OMMT, was an indication that the individual silicate layers were separated from each other and randomly distributed within the blend matrix by shear during melt processing, resulting in an exfoliated nanostructure\u003csup\u003e2,50,66\u003c/sup\u003e. Tohelp confirm this phenomenon, TEM analysis was further performed. From Fig. 8. all the TEM images revealed the delamination of the OMMT layers at the nanoscale, corroborating the evidence from XRD analysis.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Fig. 9, SEM images of the three different rPET/rPA6/OMMT\u0026nbsp;nanocomposites revealed a phase separated morphology where rPET formed the continuous matrix and rPA6 formed dispersed spherical domains. The OMMT nanoparticles\u0026nbsp;tended to migrate towards the more polar rPA6 component. This preference led to the OMMT either clustering at the boundary between rPET and rPA6 phases or becoming embedded within the rPA6 domains\u003csup\u003e46,67\u003c/sup\u003e. The OMMT layers formed around rPA6 particles could act as a physical barrier, hindering the direct contact and interaction between the two polymer phases. Hence, the rPA6\u0026nbsp;phase tended to form larger, more distinct domains within the rPET matrix. As can be observed from Fig 9a, a low concentration (1 phr) of OMMT was sufficient to achieve the more uniform dispersion and less holes in the blend nanocomposite. At higher amount of OMMT (3 and 5 phr), the dispersed rPA6 domains became larger (Figs 9b and 9c). The observation of holes on the fractured surfaces indicated that the rPA6 domains were pulled out from the rPET matrix during the tensile test, suggesting a lack of strong adhesion or bonding between the two polymers. Therefore, the selective localization of OMMT in the nanocomposites had great effects on the morphology and properties of the nanocomposites.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to Table 1, it is evidently shown that the MFI values of the three different rPET/rPA6/OMMT nanocomposites continuously decreased as the amount of OMMT increased, but these values were consistently lower than that of the neat rPET (1.6- to 2.9–fold) and the neat rPA6/rPET blend (1.1– to 1.9-fold). This implied that as more OMMT was added to the nanocomposites, the material became more resistant to flow when melted. This is because the preferential localization of OMMT at the interface between rPET and rPA6 phases or within the more compatible rPA6 phase restricted the movement of polymer chains, resulting in a lower MFI.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTGA and DTG curves of the three different rPET/rPA6/OMMT nanocomposites are presented in Fig. 10, whilst their related thermal data were also listed in Table 1. All the nanocomposites exhibited a single-step degradation process. Their \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eonset\u003c/sub\u003e, \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eend-set\u003c/sub\u003e, and\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003emax\u003c/sub\u003e werein the range of 380.3–385.7\u0026nbsp;°C, 430.7–435.4\u0026nbsp;°C, and 406.2–413.5\u0026nbsp;°C, respectively. The incorporation of OMMT enhanced the \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eonset\u003c/sub\u003e of the nanocomposites by 2.8–8.2\u0026nbsp;°C compared with that of the neat rPA6/rPET\u0026nbsp;blend. Thissuggested that the OMMT acted as a barrier, improving the resistance to thermal breakdown at the initial degradation stage of the materials. The silicate nanoplatelets, when dispersed within polymer matrix, created a tortuous path for heat and volatile degradation products. This tortuosity hindered heat from readily reaching the polymers and impeded the volatilization of the small polymers generated during degradation, delaying down the \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eonset\u003c/sub\u003e of the samples\u003csup\u003e68,69\u003c/sup\u003e. Afterwards, the nanocomposites showed a reverse thermal stability, as evidenced by a decrease in the \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eend-set\u003c/sub\u003e by 1.9–6.6\u0026nbsp;°C and \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003emax\u003c/sub\u003e by 1.5–8.8\u0026nbsp;°C in comparison with those of the neat blend. This suggested that the barrier effect of OMMT was limited by the inherent characteristic of OMMT. Acidic sites and free metallic ions (e.g., Fe\u003csup\u003e3+\u003c/sup\u003e, Al\u003csup\u003e3+\u003c/sup\u003e)on clay surfaces can act as catalysts, accelerating the degradation of polymers by facilitating the breakdown of polymer chains and countering the barrier effect of OMMT\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e. However, all nanocomposites could exhibit sufficient\u0026nbsp;thermal stability during melt processing, The presence of a stable char residue (12–15.8 wt%) in the nanocomposites indicated that the OMMT could promote the formation of a protective char layer during combustion\u003csup\u003e68\u003c/sup\u003e.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe HDTand VST data of the three different rPET/rPA6/OMMT nanocomposites are also presented in Table 1. The results showed that the HDT and VST of the nanocomposites were lower than those of the neat rPET/rPA6 blend by 1.3–3.1 °C and 9–35.9 °C, respectively, suggesting that the nanocomposites might soften or deform at a lower temperature. This may be because when rPA6 formed larger domain size within the nanocomposites, it tended to reduce the overall surface area available for interaction with rPET, leading to weaker interfacial adhesion. However, among the three nanocomposites, the one with 5 phr OMMT exhibited the highest HDT and VST values. This suggested that the larger and stiffer rPA6 phase possibly restricted the polymer chain mobility.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDSC cooling and second heating thermograms of the three different\u0026nbsp;rPET/rPA6/OMMT nanocomposites are shown in\u0026nbsp;Fig. 11. Their \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e, \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e, ∆\u003cem\u003eH\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e, and χ\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e were also summarized in Table 2. Despite different compositions of the three nanocomposites, their cooling and heating patterns were similar. The addition of OMMT to the\u0026nbsp;rPET/rPA6 blend led to the \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e and \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e of rPET phase being largely unaffected and closely resembling those of the neat rPET/rPA6 blend.\u0026nbsp;This suggested that OMMT did not act as nucleating agent for rPET in the nanocomposites when OMMT preferentially located within the rPA6 phase. Meanwhile,\u0026nbsp;a more obvious variation in \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e and \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e of the rPA6 phase\u0026nbsp;in the nanocomposites\u0026nbsp;compared with those of the neat blend was observed.\u0026nbsp;The lower \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e and\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e values for the rPA6 phase suggested that the OMMT had a significant impact on the crystallization and melting behaviors of the rPA6, likely due to changes in the crystal structures and chain mobility. The\u0026nbsp;\u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e of the rPA6 phase\u0026nbsp;in all nanocomposites\u0026nbsp;(Fig 11a) was found to be lower than that in the neat rPET/rPA6 blend\u0026nbsp;by 3.2–17.2 °C.\u0026nbsp;Moreover, the \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e of the rPA6 phase in each nanocomposite was significantly lower than that of rPET, implying that the rPET solidified and formed crystals first, followed by the rPA6 as the temperature continued to decrease.\u0026nbsp;This could be due to the hindering effect of OMMT on molecular chain mobility of rPA6. The OMMT tended to localize within the rPA6 phase, restricting the movement of rPA6 chains and delaying their crystallization, suggesting that they required more time and energy to arrange themselves into a crystalline structure.\u0026nbsp;From\u0026nbsp;Fig. 11b, the strong endothermic peaks observed between 212.4–215.7 °C indicated the T\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e of the α-form crystals of rPA6, while the weak peaks within the range of 200.5–201 °C\u0026nbsp;range corresponded to the T\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e of the γ-form crystals. This also signified the coexistence of both crystalline forms within the materials. The lower \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e of both \u003cem\u003eα\u003c/em\u003e-and \u003cem\u003eγ\u003c/em\u003e-form crystals of rPA6 compared with the neat blend indicated that the addition of OMMT altered the crystallization behavior of rPA6 by disrupting the perfect crystal structure formation. Specifically, the greater reduction in T\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e for the γ-form (7.2–7.7 °C) compared with the\u0026nbsp;α-form (2.1–5.4 °C) suggested that the γ-form crystals were more significantly affected by the presence of OMMT. This could be because the γ-form is more sensitive to the presence of foreign particles or defects in the structure, or because the OMMT particles are more readily incorporated into the γ-form crystals. However, the χ\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e of the rPA6 component in the nanocomposites\u0026nbsp;was found to be higher than that in the neat blend by 2.8–8%, which was attributed to the nucleating activity of the OMMT.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStorage modulus\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;(\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e′) and loss tangent (tan \u003cem\u003eδ\u003c/em\u003e) curves obtained from the DMA for rPET, rPA6, their blend (70/30 (wt%/wt%) rPET/rPA6), and\u0026nbsp;nanocomposites containing OMMT over a range of temperature (30 to 170 °C) at a frequency of 1 Hz are illustrated in Fig. 12. From Fig. 12a, it is seen that the \u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e′ of rPET (2223 MPa) was higher than that of rPA6 (1841 MPa) at 30 °C. This was due to the more rigid molecular structure\u0026nbsp;and higher crystallinity\u0026nbsp;of rPET, which contributed to its greater stiffness and ability to resist deformation under stress\u003csup\u003e9,\u003c/sup\u003e\u003csup\u003e61\u003c/sup\u003e. The \u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e′\u0026nbsp;of the rPA6/rPET blend (1610 MPa) was found to be lowered than that of either neat rPET or neat rPA6 because rPA6 disrupted the regular packing of the rPET chains, providing more free volume within the blend. This in turn facilitated chain mobility within the blend, resulting in a lower\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;E\u003c/em\u003e′. Meanwhile, the change in the\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;E\u003c/em\u003e′ of the three different nanocomposites did not display a consistent trend with varying OMMT content, indicating that the \u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e′ of the material was affected by the concentration of OMMT and there was an optimal loading point. Among them, the nanocomposite with 3 phr of OMMT exhibited the highest \u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e′ (1855 MPa), surpassing that of the neat blend. This suggested that this loading provided the optimal dispersion of OMMT within the rPA6 phase and effectively enhanced the stiffness and \u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e′ of the nanocomposite. Meanwhile, the nanocomposites containing 1 and 5 phr OMMT had lower \u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e′ (1404 and 982 MPa, respectively). This may be because 1 phr of OMMT was not enough to enhance the \u003cem\u003e(E\u003c/em\u003e′) of the nanocomposite, while the higher OMMT concentration (5 phr) led to the clumping of OMMT nanoparticles, forming larger aggregates within the rPA6 phase. This aggregation reduced the effective surface area of the nanoparticles interacting with the polymer matrix, resulting in a lower \u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e′. Thereafter, the \u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e′ of all the samples slowly decreased with increasing temperature due to increased chain mobility, with a more rapid drop occurring at their \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eg\u003c/sub\u003e (α-relaxation) as the polymers in the amorphous regions gained enough energy for significant movement and transitioned from a rigid glassy state to a more flexible rubbery state\u003csup\u003e2,70\u003c/sup\u003e. However, the crystalline phases of these two semicrystalline polymers could provide residue stiffness as the temperature was above the\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003csub\u003eg\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e71\u003c/sup\u003e.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThetan \u003cem\u003eδ\u003c/em\u003e curves\u0026nbsp;for all samples\u0026nbsp;are\u0026nbsp;depicted\u0026nbsp;in Fig. 12b. The \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eg\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sub\u003eof a material can be evaluated from the peak in\u0026nbsp;its tan \u003cem\u003eδ\u003c/em\u003e curve.\u0026nbsp;A single\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eg\u003c/sub\u003e observed in a polymer blend of rPET and rPA6, situated between their\u0026nbsp;individual\u0026nbsp;\u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eg\u003c/sub\u003es (82.5 °C for rPET and 66.8 °C for rPA6, with a blend \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eg\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sub\u003eof 79 °C) was a strong indicator of polymer compatibility. This phenomenon suggested that there were sufficient intermolecular forces and mixing within the amorphous regions of the blend to create a coherent system. Besides, the\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eg\u003c/sub\u003esof the nanocomposites\u0026nbsp;dropped to 73.3, 74.8, and 77.5 °C with the addition of OMMT to the rPET/rPA6 blend at 1, 3, and 5 phr, respectively. This drop suggested that the OMMT nanoparticles disrupted the polymer-polymer interactions (hydrogen bonding or potentially other interchange reactions), allowing for greater segmental motion of the polymer chains. This implied that less energy was required for the chains to move, resulting in a lower\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eg\u003c/sub\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheeffects of OMMT content on the mechanical properties of the three rPET/rPA6/OMMT nanocomposites were assessed through tensile and impact tests. Theirtensile strength, Young's modulus, elongation at break, and impact strengthposites are also summarized in\u0026nbsp;Table 3. It is seen that adding 1 phr of OMMT to rPET/rPA6 blend enhanced overall mechanical properties of the blend, leading to higher tensile strength (1.1-fold), Young's modulus (1-fold), elongation at break (1.1-fold), and impact strength (1.1-fold) compared with the neat blend,\u0026nbsp;while also demonstrated much superior tensile strength (1.7-fold), elongation at break (1.9-fold),\u0026nbsp;and impact strength (1.4-fold) relative to the neat rPET,\u0026nbsp;though with a considerably lower Young's modulus (1.9-fold)\u003cstrong\u003e.\u003c/strong\u003eHence, the OMMT at this specific concentration acted as a reinforcing agent that strengthened therPET/rPA6 blend. When OMMT content in nanocomposites was increased beyond an optimal level, such as at 3 and 5 phr, it caused OMMT platelets to aggregate rather than disperse, leading to the formation of weak points that acted as stress concentration sites. This consequently reduced the overall mechanical properties of the resulting nanocomposites.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusions","content":"\u003cp\u003eIn this study, rPET and rPA6 were combined to form blends, which also included OMMT in the case of nanocomposites. These materials were prepared using twin-screw extruder and injection molding machine. First, rPET/rPA6 blends at five different weight ratios (ranging from 90/10 to 50/50) were investigated for their properties. SEM depicted the phase-separated morphology on their tensile fractured surfaces, where rPET formed a continuous phase and rPA6 was dispersed as distinct spherical particles in this matrix. FTIR analysis confirmed an ester-amide exchange reaction between rPET and rPA6 during melt processing, forming PET-PA6 copolymers which acted as a compatibilizer. This resulted in a more homogeneous blends and a reduced MFI, indicating improved melt strength. TGA analysis of rPET blends incorporating rPA6 showed a detrimental effect on the thermal stability because an irregular blend morphology facilitated heat transfer through the blends and resulted in faster degradation of the materials. Besides, adding rPA6 to rPET lowered the blends\u0026rsquo; HDT and VST because rPA6 had lower HDT and VST than rPET, and thus its lower thermal behaviors dominated the blends. From DSC cooling curves, in the rPET/rPA6 blends, the \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e of rPET decreased, while the \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e of rPA6 increased, when compared with their individual, neat polymers. This phenomenon occurred because rPA6 impeded the crystallization of rPET, while rPET acted as a nucleating agent for rPA6, promoting crystallization of the rPA6 at higher temperatures. From DSC second heating curves, both rPET and rPA6 showed double \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e peaks in their blends, which can be according to variation in crystal size and structure, the presence of different polymorphic forms, or reorganization effects within the blends. The lower \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sup\u003econformed to the melting of the less perfect or smaller crystallites, which melted first, while the higher \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e related to the more perfect or larger crystallites. Moreover, adding rPA6 to rPET improved the blends\u0026rsquo; toughness (increased tensile strength and elongation at break) but reduced their stiffness (lower Young\u0026rsquo;s modulus) compared with the neat rPET. Meanwhile, the blends at 30 and 40 wt% rPA6 had higher impact strength than neat rPET, while the blends at 10, 20, and 50 wt% had lower impact strength. For further study, the\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eblend at 30 wt% rPA6 was selected as the base material for preparing nanocomposites with 1, 3, and 5 phr of OMMT. XRD and TEM analyses validated the formation of an exfoliated structure of OMMT within the samples. SEM image depicted that the nanocomposite with 1 phr OMMT had a uniform and pore-free morphology. The MFI decreased continuously with increasing OMMT concentration in the nanocomposites, which was consistently lower than that of neat rPET and neat rPET/rPA6 blend. Besides, all nanocomposites had a higher\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eonset\u003c/sub\u003e than neat blend because the dispersed OMMT acted as barriers by forming a tortuous path within the materials, thereby delaying the heat and gas permeation into the samples. However, the presence of catalytic acidic sites and free metallic ions on clay surfaces further accelerated the polymer degradations, leading to the reduced\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eend-set\u003c/sub\u003e and \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003emax\u003c/sub\u003e. Meanwhile, adding OMMT to the blend did not significantly alter the \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e and \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e of rPET phase because OMMT mainly dispersed within rPA6 phase, thus failing to act as a nucleating agent for the rPET. Moreover, rPA6 in the nanocomposites had lower \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e and\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;T\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e than rPET and even rPA6 in neat blend because OMMT hindered the movement of rPA6 chains, which delayed crystallization process and disrupted perfect crystal formation. Among the three nanocomposites, the one with 3 phr OMMT exhibited the highest \u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e\u0026prime; at 30 \u0026deg;C due to the effective and uniform nanoparticle dispersion within the rPA6 phase. The \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003eg\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sub\u003eof nanocomposites obtained from the tan \u003cem\u003e\u0026delta;\u003c/em\u003e peaks was lower than that of neat blend because OMMT nanoparticles disrupted the polymer-polymer interactions, leading to an increased segmental motion of polymer chains. In summary, the nanocomposite containing OMMT at 1 phr showed improved both \u0026nbsp;tensile and impact properties compared to the neat rPET/rPA6 blend. But when compared to the neat rPET, this nanocomposite had much superior tensile strength, elongation at break, and impact strength, along with a lower Young\u0026apos;s modulus. At higher concentrations (beyond 1 phr), the OMMT particles began to agglomerate and acted as stress concentration sites, leading to a reduction in the overall mechanical properties.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003ch2\u003eConflicts of Interest\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe author declares no conflicts of interest.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eP.C. and A.L. wrote the main manuscript text. P.C. prepared all figures and tables. P.C. is the designer of the research methodology.A.L. analyze and process data.A.L. interpret the data analysis results and synthesize the findings.All authors reviewed the manuscript.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe authors would like to thank the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Rajamangala University of Technology, Metallurgy and Materials Science Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, and MTEC, National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA for financial, material and instrument support, and facility for this research work.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eData Availability\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003cp\u003e1. 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The degradation during recycling of polyamide 6 produced\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;by anionic ring‑opening polymerization of Ɛ‑caprolactam. \u003cem\u003eSci. Rep.\u003c/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e13\u003c/strong\u003e, 17130,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-44314-0 (2023).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e64. Nouparvar, H., Hassan, A., Mohamad, Z. \u0026amp; Wahit, M. U. Epoxidized natural rubber-50 \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; toughened polyamide 6 nanocomposites: The effect of epoxidized natural rubber-50 contents\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; on morphological characterization, mechanical and thermal properties. \u003cem\u003eJ. Elastomers Plast\u003c/em\u003e.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;46\u003c/strong\u003e, 269\u0026ndash;283, https://doi.org/10.1177/0095244312468365 (2014).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e65. Zhang, S. et al. A novel synthetic strategy for preparing polyamide 6 (PA6)-based polymer\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;with transesterification. \u003cem\u003ePolymers\u003c/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e11\u003c/strong\u003e, 978, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11060978 (2019).\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e66. Ray, S. S. \u0026amp; Okamoto, M. Polymer/layered silicate nanocomposites: a review from\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; preparation to processing. \u003cem\u003eProg. Polym. Sci\u003c/em\u003e. \u003cstrong\u003e28\u003c/strong\u003e 1539\u0026ndash;1641,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2003.08.002 (2003).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e67. Xu, G., Qin, S., Yu, J., Huang, Y., Zhang, M. \u0026amp; Ruan, W. Effect of migration of layered\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; nanoparticles during melt blending on phase morphology of poly (ethylene terephthalate)/\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; polyamide 6/montmorillonite ternary nanocomposites. \u003cem\u003eRSC Adv\u003c/em\u003e. \u003cstrong\u003e5\u003c/strong\u003e, 29924\u0026ndash;29930,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; https://doi.org/10.1039/C5RA01401H (2015).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e68. Lim, S. T., Hyun, Y. H., Choi, H. J. \u0026amp; Jhon M. S. Synthetic biodegradable aliphatic\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; polyester/montmorillonite nanocomposites. \u003cem\u003eChem Mater\u003c/em\u003e. \u003cstrong\u003e14\u003c/strong\u003e, 1839\u0026ndash;1844,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; https://doi.org\u003cstrong\u003e/\u003c/strong\u003e10.1021/cm010377j\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e(2002)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e69. Chuayjuljit, S. \u0026amp; Worawas, C. Nanocomposites of EVA/polystyrene nanoparticles/\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; montmorillonite. \u003cem\u003eJ. Compos. Mater\u003c/em\u003e.\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;45\u003c/strong\u003e, 631\u0026ndash;638,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998310376116 (2010)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e70. Jayanarayanan, K., Thomas, S. \u0026amp; Joseph, K. Morphology, static and dynamic mechanical\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; properties of in situ microfibrillar composites based on polypropylene/poly(ethylene\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; terephthalate) blends. \u003cem\u003eCompos. A\u003c/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e39\u003c/strong\u003e 164\u0026ndash;175.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2007.11.008 (2008).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e71. Song, P., Trivedi, A., Hawkins, N., Graham, A., Chapman, D. \u0026amp; Siviour, C. R.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; Thermomechanical characterisation of polyamide 6 over a wide range of rates and\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;Temperatures. \u003cem\u003ePolymer\u003c/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e300\u003c/strong\u003e, 126907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2024.126907 (2024).\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Tables","content":" \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eMFI, TGA, and HDT/VST- derived data of the samples\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"8\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eSample\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eMFI\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(g/10 min)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eT\u003c/span\u003e\u003csub\u003eonset\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(\u0026deg;C)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eT\u003c/span\u003e\u003csub\u003eend\u0026minus;set\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(\u0026deg;C)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eT\u003c/span\u003e\u003csub\u003emax\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(\u0026deg;C)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eChar\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(%)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eHDT\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(\u0026deg;C)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eVST\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(\u0026deg;C)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003erPET\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e73.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e413.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e447.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e437.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e14.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e68.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e200.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003erPA6\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e27.8\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e419.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e454.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e448.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e5.6\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e63.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e171.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"5\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003erPET/\u003c/span\u003erPA6 \u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003e(wt%/wt%)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e90/10\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e61.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e402.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e450.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e435.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e14.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e67.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e170.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e80/20\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e56.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e391.8\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e443.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e429.6\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e11.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e66.8\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e169.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e70/30\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e48.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e377.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e437.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e415.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e11.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e65.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e171.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e60/40\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e44.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e376.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e422.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e400.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e10.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e64.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e170.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e50/50\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e40.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e372.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e418.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e396.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e6.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e64.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e171.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"5\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003erPET/\u003c/span\u003erPA6\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003e/OMMT (wt%/wt%/phr)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e70/30/1\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e46.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e380.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e430.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e406.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e12.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e64.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e135.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e70/30/3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e30.6\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e383.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e432.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e409.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e14.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e63.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e147.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e70/30/5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e25.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e385.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e435.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e413.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e15.8\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e62.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e162.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cbr/\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eDSC-derived data for the samples\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"11\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c9\" colnum=\"9\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c10\" colnum=\"10\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c11\" colnum=\"11\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" morerows=\"1\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eSample\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003erPET\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003erPA6\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eT\u003c/span\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(\u0026deg;C)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eT\u003c/span\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(\u0026deg;C)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e∆\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eH\u003c/span\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(J/g)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eχ\u003c/span\u003e\u003csub\u003ec, \u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(%)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eT\u003c/span\u003e\u003csub\u003ec\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(\u0026deg;C)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eT\u003c/span\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(\u0026deg;C)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e∆\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eH\u003c/span\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(J/g)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eχ\u003c/span\u003e\u003csub\u003ec,\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(%)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003erPET\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e208.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e247.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e55.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e39.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003erPA6\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e171.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e210.0, 219.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e58.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e25.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"10\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003erPET/rPA6 (wt%/wt%)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e90/10\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e200.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e238.8, 248.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e33.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e26.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e184.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e207.0, 217.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e5.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e23.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e80/20\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e198.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e238.0, 247.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e26.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e23.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e186.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e208.8, 218.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e10.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e26.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e70/30\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e201.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e238.6, 248.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e28.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e29.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e185.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e208.2, 217.8\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e12.8\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e18.6\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e60/40\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e199.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e237.4, 248.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e27.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e32.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e186.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e208.6, 218.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e16.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e18.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e50/50\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e203.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e230.5, 248.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e21.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e30.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e189.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e210.7, 217.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e28.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e25.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"10\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003erPET/rPA6/OMMT (wt%/wt%/phr)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e70/30/1\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e204.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e236.3, 248.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e25.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e25.9\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e167.8\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e200.8, 212.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e15.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e21.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e70/30/3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e202.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e237.0, 248.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e24.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e25.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e177.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e201.0, 214.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e14.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e21.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e70/30/5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e201.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e236.8, 249.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e26.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e27.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e181.8\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e200.5, 215.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e17.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e25.9\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cbr/\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eMechanical properties of the samples\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"5\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eSample\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eTensile\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003estrength\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(MPa)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eYoung\u0026rsquo;s modulus\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(MPa)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eElongation\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eat break\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(%)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003eImpact strength\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e(J/m)\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003erPET\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e24.5\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e4460.0\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;51.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e1.7\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e26.7\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003erPA6\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e58.2\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;3.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e1560.4\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;37.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e153.4\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;16.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e57.6\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;4.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"5\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003erPET/rPA6 (wt%/wt%)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e90/10\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e26.3\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;3.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e3654.0\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;46.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e1.9\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e20.8\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e80/20\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e29.7\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e2594.7\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;34.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e2.2\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.1\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e22.6\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e70/30\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e36.8\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e2335.8\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;22.6\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e3.0\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.1\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e35.5\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e60/40\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e40.6\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.8\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e2227.2\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;19.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e3.2\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e35.2\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e50/50\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e42.2\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.7\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e1998.3\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;16.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e3.6\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e25.0\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"5\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Italic\" class=\"Italic\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003erPET/rPA6/OMMT (wt%/wt%/phr)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e70/30/1\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e40.5\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e2366.8\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;27.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e3.2\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.8\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e37.3\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;3.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e70/30/3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e32.7\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.3\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e2127.2\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;20.8\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e2.6\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e20.7\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e70/30/5\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e24.3\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.0\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e2250.3\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;23.2\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e2.4\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.4\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"SimplePara\"\u003e18.5\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.6\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cbr/\u003e"},{"header":"Schemes","content":"\u003cp\u003eScheme 1 is available in the Supplementary Files section\u003c/p\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"mechanical recycling, poly(ethylene terephthalate), polyamide 6, organoclay","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8447448/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8447448/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis study involved the recycling of post-consumer poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and post-industrial polyamide 6 (PA6). Their blends and nanocomposites were melt fabricated using twin screw extruder and injection molding machine. Recycled PET (rPET)/recycled PA6 (rPA6) blends were first prepared at five weight ratios (90/10 to 50/50). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) depicted a sea-island morphology on their fractured surfaces, where rPA6 formed dispersed droplets within the rPET matrix. Their melt flow index (MFI) decreased with increasing rPA6 content, suggesting an increased melt viscosity. Comparing with neat rPET, tensile strength, elongation at break, and impact strength of the blends were enhanced along with the expense of Young’s modulus. The blend with 30 wt% rPA6 was further mixed with a small loading of organo-modified montmorillonite (OMMT) (1, 3, and 5 phr) using the same processing conditions. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy confirmed the presence of an exfoliated structure in the nanocomposites. SEM images showed that the addition of OMMT caused rPA6 domains to increase in size because OMMT had a strong tendency to move towards the rPA6 phases and selectively localized within or at the interface of the rPA6 domains. The MFI of the nanocomposites decreased continuously with increasing OMMT contents compared to that of the neat blend, implying an increased melt viscosity. Finally, the results revealed that only the nanocomposite containing 1 phr OMMT exhibited an increase in all the evaluated mechanical properties over the neat blend, which can make the recycled materials more suitable for a wider range of applications.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Thermomechanical recycling of post-consumer poly(ethylene terephthalate) bottles and post-industrial polyamide 6 fishing nets reinforced with organo- modified montmorillonite","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-21 10:02:35","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8447448/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-02-11T10:48:24+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-02-11T06:34:05+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"167470595174598605849252687555957988571","date":"2026-01-29T03:44:36+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-01-25T17:40:07+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"119819390117537884732296922626263571031","date":"2026-01-20T06:40:56+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-01-20T02:50:45+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-01-14T13:17:15+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2026-01-14T12:31:47+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"2f1673a4-b3d5-4910-a8c5-1abd0a5e11e0","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 21st, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":61415991,"name":"Physical sciences/Chemistry"},{"id":61415992,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering"},{"id":61415993,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-04T16:02:39+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-8447448","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-43815-y","journal":{"identity":"scientific-reports","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Scientific Reports"},"publishedOn":"2026-04-29 15:58:11","publishedOnDateReadable":"April 29th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-21 10:02:35","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41598-026-43815-y","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-43815-y","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8447448","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8447448","identity":"rs-8447448","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}