Mechanical performance and eco-efficiency of thermoplastic polyurethane composites reinforced with recycled tire rubber
4 affiliations
- 1aCentro de Investigaciones y Estudios de Ingeniería de los Recursos Hídricos & Departamento de Ingeniería Civil y Ambiental, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ladrón de Guevara E11-253, Quito 170525, Ecuador.
- 2bFacultad de Ingeniería Mecánica, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ladrón de Guevara E11-253, 170413, Quito, Ecuador.
- 3cGrupo de Biodiversidad Medio Ambiente y Salud, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad de Las Américas, Redondel del Ciclista Antigua Vía a Nayón, Quito, P.C. 170124, Ecuador.
- 4dGrupo de Investigación en Biomimética Amazónica y Nanotecnología (GIBAN), Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam, Vía Muyuna-Alto Tena km 7, Tena 150150, Napo, Ecuador.
Abstract
The accumulation of end-of-life tires poses a major environmental challenge because high-value recycling routes remain limited. This study investigated thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composites containing crumb rubber (CR) using a 3 × 3 factorial design with particle sizes of 177–840 µm and CR contents of 10–25 wt%. Compared with neat TPU, CR increased stiffness and Shore A hardness, whereas higher loadings generally reduced yield stress, yield elongation, tear performance, and abrasion resistance. Among the 20 wt% CR formulations, TPU80-CR20-500 showed a balanced mechanical response: Young's modulus increased from 1.78 to 4.77 MPa (+168%) and Shore A hardness from 67.6 to 70.0 (+3.6%), while yield stress and elongation decreased from 14.54 to 4.92 MPa (−66.2%) and from 1234% to 587% (−52.4%), respectively. TPU90-CR10-840 exhibited the lowest abrasion loss among the composites and the highest durability factor (DF = 1.59). SEM qualitatively linked these differences to particle-size-dependent dispersion, interfacial defects, and particle debonding. Relative to conventional TPU-carbon black, the carbon footprint decreased from 6.59 to 5.28 kg CO2-eq kg−1 at 25 wt% CR, although durability losses limited the benefit of maximizing recycled content. TPU90-CR10-840 therefore achieved the highest durability-adjusted eco-efficiency (EEI = 0.261), whereas TPU80-CR20-500 offered higher recycled-rubber content with comparatively balanced mechanical performance. These results show that recycled content, performance, durability, and environmental impact should be considered jointly in circular TPU-CR design.
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BibTeX
@article{escobarortiz2026mechanical,
title = {{Mechanical performance and eco-efficiency of thermoplastic polyurethane composites reinforced with recycled tire rubber}},
author = {Jorge Escobar-Ortiz and Alex Chiguano and Elvia Gallegos-Castro and Cristina E. Almeida-Naranjo and Luis-Miguel Quishpe},
journal = {Environmental Science: Advances},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1039/d6va00177g},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1039/d6va00177g},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Mechanical performance and eco-efficiency of thermoplastic polyurethane composites reinforced with recycled tire rubber
AU - Jorge Escobar-Ortiz
AU - Alex Chiguano
AU - Elvia Gallegos-Castro
AU - Cristina E. Almeida-Naranjo
AU - Luis-Miguel Quishpe
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - Environmental Science: Advances
DO - 10.1039/d6va00177g
UR - https://doi.org/10.1039/d6va00177g
AB - The accumulation of end-of-life tires poses a major environmental challenge because high-value recycling routes remain limited. This study investigated thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composites containing crumb rubber (CR) using a 3 × 3 factorial design with particle sizes of 177–840 µm and CR contents of 10–25 wt%. Compared with neat TPU, CR increased stiffness and Shore A hardness, whereas higher loadings generally reduced yield stress, yield elongation, tear performance, and abrasion resistance. Among the 20 wt% CR formulations, TPU80-CR20-500 showed a balanced mechanical response: Young's modulus increased from 1.78 to 4.77 MPa (+168%) and Shore A hardness from 67.6 to 70.0 (+3.6%), while yield stress and elongation decreased from 14.54 to 4.92 MPa (−66.2%) and from 1234% to 587% (−52.4%), respectively. TPU90-CR10-840 exhibited the lowest abrasion loss among the composites and the highest durability factor (DF = 1.59). SEM qualitatively linked these differences to particle-size-dependent dispersion, interfacial defects, and particle debonding. Relative to conventional TPU-carbon black, the carbon footprint decreased from 6.59 to 5.28 kg CO2-eq kg−1 at 25 wt% CR, although durability losses limited the benefit of maximizing recycled content. TPU90-CR10-840 therefore achieved the highest durability-adjusted eco-efficiency (EEI = 0.261), whereas TPU80-CR20-500 offered higher recycled-rubber content with comparatively balanced mechanical performance. These results show that recycled content, performance, durability, and environmental impact should be considered jointly in circular TPU-CR design.
SN - 2754-7000
ER -