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Incorporating dynamic bonds into high density polyethylene for upcycled plastic waste

Metadata Updated: September 30, 2025

This dataset consists of characterization of telechelic functional polyethylene oligomers, precursors, and resultant step-growth polyethylene with urethane-linkages between segments of different lengths. Polymer characterization data includes nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, room-temperature and high-temperature size exclusion chromatography data and associated calibration curves, attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectra, transmission FTIR spectra with melting. Several physical measurements were also conducted on the materials in this study and are included in this data asset: differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements, rheological measurements, micro ballistic impact measurements, small angle and wide angle x-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS, respectively),This is the abstract for the manuscript written using the data provided herein."Over 50% of plastic waste comes from a single class of semi-crystalline polymers called polyolefins. While direct mechanical recycling of these plastics would be highly advantageous, most recycling strategies fail to preserve the broad molecular mass distribution of these polyolefins, from which they derive their unique combination of processability and mechanical strength. Here, we show that the incorporation of reversible interactions into high-density polyethylene (HDPE) can circumvent this issue, by strengthening the amorphous phase through interchain supramolecular interactions, as opposed to traditional entanglements from high molecular mass chains. Critically, we show that many key properties of these dynamic HDPE polymers, including percent crystallinity, melting temperature, bond association, and mechanical properties are determined by the distribution of bond-to-bond spacings along the chain backbone and can be predicted using simple polymer physics theories. Through X-ray scattering experiments, we show that a mixed backbone HDPE dynamic polymer exhibits a unique display of long-range supramolecular order that persists even in the melt state along with mechanical properties that exceed HDPE and approach the strain-hardening behavior seen in ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. This work demonstrates a promising mechanism for upcycling of polyolefin waste, illuminates key fundamental principles governing how the placement of dynamic bonds in polyolefins can dramatically influence bulk material properties, and provides a framework to design new upcycled polymers based on controlling bond-spacing distributions."

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: See this page for license information.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 30, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 30, 2025
Data Update Frequency irregular

Metadata Source

Harvested from Commerce Non Spatial Data.json Harvest Source

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 30, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 30, 2025
Publisher National Institute of Standards and Technology
Maintainer
Identifier ark:/88434/mds2-3501
Data First Published 2025-01-06
Language en
Data Last Modified 2024-08-27 00:00:00
Category Materials:Polymers, Physics:Spectroscopy, Physics:Thermodynamics, Resilience:Resilient materials, Materials:Materials characterization, Manufacturing:Sustainable manufacturing, Chemistry:Analytical chemistry, Chemistry:Molecular characterization
Public Access Level public
Data Update Frequency irregular
Bureau Code 006:55
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 45573fbd-9587-468b-a207-db2336046c4b
Harvest Source Id bce99b55-29c1-47be-b214-b8e71e9180b1
Harvest Source Title Commerce Non Spatial Data.json Harvest Source
Homepage URL https://data.nist.gov/od/id/mds2-3501
License https://www.nist.gov/open/license
Program Code 006:045
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 626ce190bda788ccdef020abeaf0486a964dbd1c5c7b488a5400fc0df022286f
Source Schema Version 1.1

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