Termomechanical Treatment of Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Refuse: A Way to Avoid its Waste

Abstract

During the recycling process of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), particles with low granulometry (refuse) may stick to the screw of the extruder and be discarded. In order to avoid its disposal, this research carries out a hot pressing of this refuse to allow its use. First, the ideal duration of hot pressing for this case was determined. Next, the resulting material was evaluated by drilling and manual sawing processes, and its mechanical properties were obtained by compression tests. The medium elastic modulus obtained by experimental tests was 1.13 GPa and, its medium strength, 68.5 MPa. Yet, the resulting material presented satisfactory performance by drilling and manual sawing processes.

Keywords

• Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) refuse
• Hot press
• Drilling and manual sawing processes
• Mechanical properties
• Compression test