Development of composites with waste plastics and waste glass fibres

寻找消费后废塑料的增值用途是一项非常重要的任务。全球95%的塑料包装材料价值因一次性使用而损失。在欧盟每年产生的680万吨塑料包装废物中，有6.75%被再利用或回收。存在一些障碍，限制了英国塑料包装废物的回收能力，例如，30%的塑料包装废物是混合塑料包装，需要在回收前进行预处理。目前的分类和清洁废塑料的过程是劳动密集型的，而且价格昂贵，无法捕捉到这种资源的经济效益。该项目将研究一种新的制造工艺，利用混合塑料包装废物作为原材料，制造升级回收的复合产品。该项目将研究塑料回收行业的固有问题，其中95%的塑料包装材料价值在很短的首次使用周期后就失去了经济价值。这些垃圾是可重复使用或可回收材料的宝贵潜在资源，估计对英国经济的价值约为180亿英镑，使用这些材料将使大量可回收塑料从垃圾填埋场和焚烧中转移出来。行业赞助商Johns Manville https://www.jm.com/每年将数千吨废玻璃纤维送往垃圾填埋场。将研究开发新的循环经济工艺以从废弃玻璃纤维和混合塑料包装废物中生产增值产品的可能性。该项目的总体目标是：-了解与混合塑料废物和废玻璃纤维相关的技术变化和挑战-加强不同类型塑料废物之间的化学相容性-调查并加强与废玻璃纤维的界面粘合-研究其加工特性-调查机械和微观结构特性塑料废物特性变化引起的问题，可能影响材料性能和生产工艺性能的因素将进行调查。该提案将测量并生成再生塑料性能的技术数据库，并研究控制材料性能的途径。将对废塑料材料进行物理表征，以确定流动和混合程度、熔化和玻璃化转变温度、干燥玻璃织物的渗透、空隙含量和Izod冲击性能。一项新的专利封闭压力成型（EPM）技术（PALTECH https://paltech.ie/）将可能在该项目中使用，并结合Johns Manville提供的废玻璃纤维。将对加工参数进行优化，以实现再生混合塑料和废玻璃纤维的最佳性能。将进行聚合物合金和纤维基体界面的表征和优化。将进行防火测试，以调查其在不同行业的适用性。将使用光学显微镜，扫描电子显微镜（SEM）， SEM- edx（能量色散x射线），动态力学分析（DMA），差示扫描量热法（DSC），拉曼和FTIR光谱。将测量Izod冲击强度。这些将在与Johns Manville的协商下进行，他们的测试设备将用于高级表征。

Finding value-added uses for post-consumer waste plastic is a very important task. 95% of plastic packaging material value worldwide is lost via single use. Of the 6.8 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste generated in the EU annually, 6.75% is reused or recycled. Several barriers exist, limiting recycling capacity of plastic packaging waste within the UK e.g. 30% of plastic packaging waste is mixed plastic packaging requiring pre-treatment before recycling. Current processes for sorting and cleaning waste plastic are labour-intensive and expensive, failing to capture the economic benefit of this resource.The project will investigate a novel manufacturing process, utilising mixed plastic packaging waste as a raw material to manufacture upcycled composite products. The project will study the inherent issues in the plastics recycling industry, where 95% of plastic packaging material value is lost to the economy after a very short first-use cycle. This waste can be a valuable potential resource of reusable or recyclable materials, estimated to be worth around £18bn to the UK economy and using this material will divert large volumes of recyclable plastics from landfill and incineration.Industry sponsor Johns Manville https://www.jm.com/ sends thousands of tonnes of waste glass fibre to landfill annually. The possibilities of developing new circular economy processes to produce value-added products from waste glass-fibre and mixed plastic packaging waste will be investigated.The overarching objectives of the project are:- Understand the technical variabilities and challenges associated with mixed plastic wastes and waste glass fibres- Enhance the chemical compatibility between different types of plastic wastes- Investigate and enhance interfacial bonding with the waste glass fibres- Study their processing characteristics- Investigate mechanical and microstructural propertiesThe issues arising from the variability of plastic waste characteristics, which may affect material properties and production process performance will be investigated. The proposal will measure and generate a technical database of the recycled plastic properties and investigate pathways to control material properties. Physical characterisation of the waste plastic materials will be carried out to establish the degree of flow and mixing, melting and glass transition temperatures, infiltration of dry glass fabrics, void content and Izod impact properties.A new patented Enclosed Pressure Moulding (EPM) technology (PALTECH https://paltech.ie/) will possibly be used in this project, in combination with waste glass fibre supplied by Johns Manville. Optimisation of the processing parameters will be carried out to achieve the best properties of recycled mixed plastics and waste glass fibres.Characterisation and optimisation of polymer alloy and fibre-matrix interfaces will be performed. Fire testing will be performed to investigate its suitability in various industries. Optical microscopy, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), SEM-EDX (Energy Dispersive x-ray), Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Raman and FTIR spectroscopy, will be used. Izod impact strength will be measured. These will be carried out in consultation with Johns Manville and their test facility will be used for advanced characterisation.