Publication: Recycled Glass Polypropylene Composites from Transportation Manufacturing Waste 

The paper, “Recycled Glass Polypropylene Composites from Transportation Manufacturing Waste” investigates the feasibility of reprocessing glass-polypropylene (PP-GF) scrap (referred to as ‘recyclate’ from truck trailers. An innovative extrusion-compression molding (ECM) process was used to manufacture test panels. The lower-upper bound tensile, flexure, and impact properties were established for different percentages of PP-GF recyclate. The fiber-matrix interface influenced by the fiber weight fraction and wet-out was found to strongly influence the resulting properties.

Publication:

Journal of Composite Science, Volume 7, Issue 3

Date:

March 6, 2023

Authors:

Uday Vaidya, Sanija Wasti, Halil Tekinalp, Ahmed Arabi Hassen, Soydan Ozcan

Abstract:

In recent years there has been growing interest in developing recycling technologies for composites manufacturing scrap, process waste and end-of-life parts. The focus of this work was to establish processing routes and mechanical property bounds for glass-polypropylene (PP-GF) scrap from the production of parts for truck trailers, automobiles, and rail cars. This study considered PP-GF scrap and demonstrated extrusion-compression molding (ECM) as a viable route for the closed-loop manufacture of composite parts. The results were promising in terms of the strength and modulus retention of the PP-GF recyclate. The tensile strength and modulus was the highest for 50% and 66% recycled content, compared with 100% and 83% recycle content. The flexural strength and modulus of the 100% and 83% recycled compositions was higher than the 66% and 50% recycled content, respectively. The impact energy absorption of the PP-GF recyclate at all fiber loadings was superior in absorbing energy compared with the incumbent (benchmark) plywood. This work is useful to designers seeking to incorporate recycled materials in their products.

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