Property Improvement of PALF-reinforced PVC Composites Recycled from Used Peritoneal Dialysis Solution Containers

In response to environmental concerns over plastic wastes, particularly from medical sources like used peritoneal dialysis solution containers (used PDCs), this study explores the recycling of these medical-grade PVC plastics. PVC composites were fabricated and reinforced with untreated (UT-PALF), NaOH-treated (NaOH-PALF), and APS-treated (APS-PALF) pineapple leaf fibers (PALFs). Dicumyl peroxide (DCP) as a crosslinker was added in order to enhance their mechanical and thermal properties of the composites. The DCP amount was varied at  0, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 phr while keeping the amounts of neat PVC, used PDCs, and PALFs constant at 50, 50, and 40 phr, respectively. The PVC composite sheets were fabricated via internal melt mixing and two-roll milling before compression molding. The PVC composites were characterized by ATR-FTIR, SEM and TGA techniques, and the mechanical properties were assessed through tensile, flexural, and impact tests. Results showed that increasing the DCP amount did not significantly enhance the mechanical strength due to simultaneous crosslinking and chain scission effects that increase PVC decomposition and void creation in the polymer matrix. However, the PVC composites reinforced with APS-PALF exhibited superior mechanical strength compared to those reinforced with NaOH-PALF and UT-PALF.