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Polymers: From Waste to Potential Reuse
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Polymers: From Waste to Potential Reuse

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymeric Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2024 | Viewed by 3130

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Lucia Sansone

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy
Interests: materials; polymers; coating; biomaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, environmental pollution is a problem affecting our ability to solve the impacts of polymer solid waste that are evident in the ever-increasing levels of global plastic pollution, both on land and in the oceans. Plastics have become widely used materials in everyday life due to their special properties such as their durability, easy processing, lightweight nature, and low cost of production. However, because of their stable and nonbiodegradable nature, postconsumer plastics become an issue to the environment. Growing amounts of waste are generated, as plastic products are commonly used only once before disposal. The alternatives of practical techniques for solid waste management are redesign, reprocessing, and recycling. Recycling techniques should be constantly developed. The recycling of plastic waste helps to conserve natural resources due to polymeric materials being made from oil and gas. There are four main recycling methods: reuse, mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, and energy recovery.

This Special Issue focuses on recent advances in recycling waste methods, redesign, and processing, in particular polymer recovery from waste to reuse.

It is our pleasure to invite you to contribute original full research papers, short communications, and state-of-the-art reviews to this Special Issue.

Dr. Lucia Sansone
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • polymers
  • waste
  • recovery
  • environment pollution
  • recycling
  • mechanical recycling
  • chemical recycling
  • energy recovery

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2779 KiB  
Article
Rheological and Functional Properties of Mechanically Recycled Post-Consumer Rigid Polyethylene Packaging Waste
by Ezgi Ceren Boz Noyan, Franziska Rehle and Antal Boldizar
Materials 2024, 17(8), 1855; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17081855 - 17 Apr 2024
Viewed by 697
Abstract
The properties of recycled post-consumer rigid polyethylene packaging waste were studied, using sorted waste washed in the laboratory with water alone and with added detergent, and compared with large-scale high-intensity washed flakes. The washed flakes were compounded using three different temperature profiles in [...] Read more.
The properties of recycled post-consumer rigid polyethylene packaging waste were studied, using sorted waste washed in the laboratory with water alone and with added detergent, and compared with large-scale high-intensity washed flakes. The washed flakes were compounded using three different temperature profiles in a twin-screw extruder and then injection molded. A higher compounding temperature reduced the thermo-oxidative stability, the average molecular mass, and the viscosity of the samples. Rheological measurements suggested that changes in chain branching occurred at different compounding temperatures. The strength and the elongation at break were also influenced by the compounding temperature in both the molten and solid states. Detergent washing maintained the thermo-oxidative stability in contrast to washing with water. The large-scale washed samples had a relatively high thermo-oxidative stability, a higher melt elasticity, and a lower elongation at break in both the molten and solid states than the laboratory-scale washed samples. The thermal properties, melt elasticity, Young’s modulus, yield stress, and yield strain of the samples were not, however, significantly affected by either the compounding temperature or the washing medium and intensity. The results indicated that recycled post-consumer rigid polyethylene packaging waste has properties that can support further applications in new products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers: From Waste to Potential Reuse)
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24 pages, 9586 KiB  
Article
The Development of Sustainable Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol-Based (PETG) Blends for Additive Manufacturing Processing—The Use of Multilayered Foil Waste as the Blend Component
by Mikołaj Garwacki, Igor Cudnik, Damian Dziadowiec, Piotr Szymczak and Jacek Andrzejewski
Materials 2024, 17(5), 1083; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17051083 - 27 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1081
Abstract
The polymer foil industry is one of the leading producers of plastic waste. The development of new recycling methods for packaging products is one of the biggest demands in today’s engineering. The subject of this research was the melt processing of multilayered PET-based [...] Read more.
The polymer foil industry is one of the leading producers of plastic waste. The development of new recycling methods for packaging products is one of the biggest demands in today’s engineering. The subject of this research was the melt processing of multilayered PET-based foil waste with PETG copolymer. The resulting blends were intended for additive manufacturing processing using the fused deposition modeling (FDM) method. In order to improve the properties of the developed materials, the blends compounding procedure was conducted with the addition of a reactive chain extender (CE) and elastomeric copolymer used as an impact modifier (IM). The samples were manufactured using the 3D printing technique and, for comparison, using the traditional injection molding method. The obtained samples were subjected to a detailed characterization procedure, including mechanical performance evaluation, thermal analysis, and rheological measurements. This research confirms that PET-based film waste can be successfully used for the production of filament, and for most samples, the FDM printing process can be conducted without any difficulties. Unfortunately, the unmodified blends are characterized by brittleness, which makes it necessary to use an elastomer additive (IM). The presence of a semicrystalline PET phase improves the thermal resistance of the prepared blends; however, an annealing procedure is required for this purpose. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers: From Waste to Potential Reuse)
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23 pages, 8440 KiB  
Article
Mechanical Strength and Surface Analysis of a Composite Made from Recycled Carbon Fibre Obtained via the Pyrolysis Process for Reuse in the Manufacture of New Composites
by Rita C. M. Sales-Contini, Hugo M. S. Costa, Heide H. Bernardi, William M. M. Menezes and Francisco J. G. Silva
Materials 2024, 17(2), 423; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17020423 - 14 Jan 2024
Viewed by 910
Abstract
This work aims to obtain recycled carbon fibre and develop an application for this new material. The carbon fibres were obtained by recycling aerospace prepreg waste via the pyrolysis process. The recycled fibres were combined with an Araldite LH5052/Aradur LY5053 epoxy resin/hardener system [...] Read more.
This work aims to obtain recycled carbon fibre and develop an application for this new material. The carbon fibres were obtained by recycling aerospace prepreg waste via the pyrolysis process. The recycled fibres were combined with an Araldite LH5052/Aradur LY5053 epoxy resin/hardener system using manual lay-up and vacuum bagging processes. For comparison, the same resin/hardener system was used to produce a composite using commercial carbon fibre. The recycled and commercial composites were subjected to flexural, tensile and Mode I testing. Fracture aspects were analysed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The pyrolysis process did not affect the fibre surface as no degradation was observed. The fracture aspect showed a mixture of failure in the recycled composite laminate and interlaminar/translaminar failure near the surface of the commercial composite caused by flexural stress. Flexural and tensile tests showed a loss of mechanical strength due to the recycling process, but the tensile values were twice as high. The sand ladder platform was the project chosen for the development of a product made with recycled carbon fibres. The product was manufactured using the same manufacturing process as the specimens and tested with a 1243 kg car. The method chosen to design, manufacture and test the prototype sand ladder platform made of recycled carbon fibre was appropriate and gave satisfactory results in terms of high mechanical strength to bending and ease of use. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers: From Waste to Potential Reuse)
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