A significant portion of the global plastics market encompasses the production of polyolefin materials and especially polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE), as commodity polymers with a wide range of applications. However, the increase in the generation of unsustainable plastic waste requires a close technological look-up to address this challenge adequately. In this context, mechanical recycling is part of the strategies expected to contribute to the solution. Nevertheless, the melt blending process presents a challenge due to the immiscibility between PP and PE. Therefore, compatibilization strategies are meant to solve the problem effectively. In this paper, we employ a commercial ethylene-ran-methyl acrylate random copolymer as a compatibilizer for PP/PE blends. With the addition of the compatibilizer, it was possible to obtain a 44% reduction in PE domain size, while ductility increased by around ∼40% with respect to uncompatibilized blends. Interesting results were obtained concerning the crystallization behavior of the blends. The overall isothermal crystallization kinetics of the different blend components was studied, and a synergistic nucleation effect of the PP and the compatibilizer toward the PE phase was found. For the first time, the effect of the compatibilizer on the surface nucleation of PE in a self-nucleated PP matrix phase is reported. An enhancement in the crystallization rate of PE was found when the self-nucleation protocol was applied to the polypropylene matrix phase for neat and compatibilized blends. The nucleation efficiency was in the range of 120–124%, indicating a supernucleation behavior. The induced crystallization at the interface by the self-nucleated polypropylene is the reason for such high nucleation efficiencies. Surprisingly, a higher amount of compatibilizer decreases the overall crystallization rate of PE droplets. The compatibilizer segregates at the interface between both polymers, reducing the surface nucleation of the PE droplets on the PP matrix phase. The results presented in this paper lead the way toward improving the use of post-consumer recycled materials.

全球塑料市场的很大一部分包括聚烯烃材料的生产，尤其是聚丙烯 (PP) 和聚乙烯 (PE)，作为具有广泛应用的商品聚合物。然而，不可持续的塑料废物产生量的增加需要密切的技术研究才能充分应对这一挑战。在这种情况下，机械回收是有望有助于解决方案的战略的一部分。然而，由于 PP 和 PE 之间的不混溶性，熔融共混工艺提出了挑战。因此，相容化策略旨在有效地解决问题。在本文中，我们采用商业乙烯运行- 丙烯酸甲酯无规共聚物作为 PP/PE 共混物的增容剂。添加增容剂后，PE 区域尺寸可减少 44%，而未增容共混物的延展性增加约 40%。关于共混物的结晶行为获得了有趣的结果。研究了不同共混物组分的整体等温结晶动力学，发现了 PP 和增容剂对 PE 相的协同成核作用。首次报道了相容剂对自成核 PP 基体相中 PE 表面成核的影响。当自成核方案应用于纯和相容共混物的聚丙烯基质相时，发现 PE 的结晶速率有所提高。超核行为。自成核聚丙烯在界面处诱导结晶是具有如此高成核效率的原因。令人惊讶的是，较高量的相容剂会降低 PE 液滴的总体结晶速率。增容剂在两种聚合物的界面处分离，减少了 PE 液滴在 PP 基质相上的表面成核。本文提出的结果引领了改善消费后回收材料使用的道路。