2. I. Pol_vmer samples
Samples of virgin shredded polyethylene terephthalate
(PET) were received from Recovery
Processes International, Inc. (RPI), a plastics
recycling technology development company,
located in Salt Lake City, UT. The PET originated
from newly manufactured PET beverage bottles
shredded to l/2 in size in a plastic granulator.
A few PVC bottles containing pine oil were
purchased from the local grocery supply. The
empty bottles (after the pine oil was removed)
were washed with non-ionic detergent to remove
paper labels and residual pine oil. These were
rinsed with water several times and dried. The
PVC bottles were then cut with scissors to a
particle size comparable with PET. The cut pieces
were mixed with PET flakes in an appropriate
ratio supplying the feed material for experiments.
Contact angle measurements were also performed
on larger flat plastic strips cut from the
bottles.