Glass-Fiber Reinforcement as a Means of Recycling Polymers from Post-Consumer Applications

Journal Article · Mon Jan 15 04:00:00 EST 2018 · Journal of Polymers and the Environment

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/S10924-017-0935-3· OSTI ID:22788308

Al-Mulla, Adam

A major barrier to the recycling of post-consumer plastics is the commingled nature of these materials with consequent poor and variable mechanical, thermal and flow properties. Using polymers from end-of-life electronics, this comprehensive study demonstrates that glass-reinforcement is a viable method for reusing post-consumer plastics. In this work, a twin screw extruder was used to incorporate short glass fibers into polycarbonate containing varying amounts of polymeric impurities. The mechanical and melt flow properties of the compounded polycarbonate, having as much as 50% impurity, were studied. It was observed that, in the presence of 15 wt% short glass fibers, the measured mechanical and flow properties of the glass-reinforced material containing 25% impurity in the matrix phase, were indistinguishable from the corresponding properties of the virgin polymer and containing the same amount of glass reinforcement but no impurities. The effectiveness of this approach was confirmed by obtaining similar mechanical property data on a variety of other glass-filled thermoplastics.

• OSTI ID: 22788308
• Journal Information: Journal of Polymers and the Environment, Journal Name: Journal of Polymers and the Environment Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 26; ISSN 1566-2543
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
FIBERGLASS
GLASS
IMPURITIES
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
POLYCARBONATES
RECYCLING
REINFORCED MATERIALS
THERMOPLASTICS