The SPE Library contains thousands of papers, presentations, journal briefs and recorded webinars from the best minds in the Plastics Industry. Spanning almost two decades, this collection of published research and development work in polymer science and plastics technology is a wealth of knowledge and information for anyone involved in plastics.
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Various topics related to sustainability in plastics, including bio-related, environmental issues, green, recycling, renewal, re-use and sustainability.
This presentation provides a global overview of natural fiber composite materials and processes highlighting current research as well as the next generation of lightweight automotive interior substrates. It discusses both pros and cons of various lightweight sustainable substrate materials (including the wide family of resinmatrixed composites with an assortment of fibrous additives ranging from wood to flax) taking into account material suitability for automotive interior substrate applications. The goal of this talk is to encourage discussion of uses and benefits of natural wood composites to reduce weight and increase product sustainability.
More environmentally friendly composite materials for automotive manufacturing and building construction have been made by substituting coir fibers for the widely used polyester fibers to make non-woven fabric composites of coir fibers and recycled polypropylene fibers that can be compression molded into a wide range of parts or rolled into flat panels. This more environmentally friendly composite has a greater bending stiffness is more resistant to fire less expensive and without the odor problems that accompany many natural fibers.
Dow Automotive and Magna International have developed a polyurethane-based system to enable a novel sandwich structure that includes extensive use of environment friendly materials. This system addresses two significant challenges in the automotive industry: weight reduction and incorporation of renewable materials. An ideal application for this technology is the load floor an interior component located in the rear of the vehicle immediately above the floor pan. This paper will review the performance requirements for a load floor the alternative materials and the development of a novel sandwich structure solution which gives the best mass to load performance with the capability to tailor shape requirements and includes the use of environment friendly materials.
An ambitious multi-year program was recently undertaken in Europe to improve the sustainability of composites used in transportation – particularly with respect to the ability to develop thick parts with large surface areas economically. The program worked with a novel highly reinforced thermoplastic composite based on cyclic oligomers of polybutylene terephthalate (cPBT) which were used to produce thermoplastic prepregs that were then evaluated in vacuum bag processes while liquid cPBT / fiberglass systems were assessed in vacuum infusion and vacuum-assisted resin-transfer molding – all forming processes traditionally used for composites with thermoset (not thermoplastic) matrices. Once the best material / process combination for the program was determined and small-scale testing confirmed the finished composite provided sufficient mechanical performance the prepreg / vacuum bag process was selected to mold one of the largest thermoplastic parts ever produced: a 3-piece structural floor for a flat-bed trailer for a Class 8 truck which is the focus of this paper.
Thermoplastic composite laminates can be post-manufactured by progressively thermoforming them to generate contoured parts from prior flat panels. This process is attractive for expanding the potential usage of composite materials in next generation transportation infrastructure marine and military sectors for part replacement and structural applications. Thermoforming has proven to be an efficient means for creating parts of complex geometries. Accurately predicting material properties and temperatures prior to forming is of utmost importance to minimize waste and reduce cost for mass-production applications. This paper presents a finiteelement modeling approach to establish the manufacturing parameters for locally formed thermoplastic composite plates.
Distillers grain a by-product of the ethanol process has been used to produce thermoset and thermoplastic polymers that can replace a portion of and/or enhance traditional petroleum-based resins in various plastics manufacturing processes. The process results in unique characteristics and allows inclusions into finished plastics products at rates of up to 40% final bio content. The pellets produced are consistent with the standard feedstock materials used by plastic manufacturers in thermoplastics and currently are being tested with polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) and the bio-based polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and polylactic acid (PLA) resins in some applications. Trials are underway in injection molding rotary molding and extrusion molding. Test results have indicated improvements in some properties of finished goods with good processing characteristics when run at temperatures below 193C. Further testing in thermoset bulk-molding compound (BMC) has resulted in lower specific gravity while retaining physical properties and good surface finish.
Automotive engineers are looking for options to reduce weight and increase engine efficiency to comply with new CO2 emission and fuel economy regulations. As a consequence under-the-hood operating temperatures continue to increase. Engineering thermosets are an effective lightweighting alternative to heavier conventional steel and aluminum die-cast products. They combine outstanding temperature stability long-term mechanical strength dimensional stability and high chemical resistance. This presentation focuses on 2 recent automotive underhood applications where phenolic-based engineering thermosets successfully replaced traditional metals. First a thermoset water pump housing was shown to outperform cast aluminum in dimensional stability while lowering overall weight; and a thermoset vacuum pump also originally designed in die-cast aluminum provided high mechanical strength and improved dimensional stability at reduced cost and weight. Finally various recycling methods for these thermoset materials are described.
Biocomposites are recent advancements used to develop cost-effective sustainable materials for numerous applications in response to the mounting needs to find substitutes for polymers based on fossil fuels. Polylactic acid (PLA) is an aliphatic and is the most promising in the bioplastics’ family although its use can be constrained by its poor mechanical properties lower thermal stability and processing difficulties. The objective of this research was to investigate and improve mechanical and thermal properties of PLA by developing PLA composites reinforced with hemp natural fibres results of which are discussed in this presentation.
Fumihiko Hirose, Bashir Ahmmad, Joel R. Salazar, Enna Richel De Leon, Jerico Buenaobra, Melissa B. Agustin, August 2013
Starch-based biocomposite films incorporating spherical cellulose nanocrystals from garlic stalks offer a novel application of an underused natural fiber.
Rafael Balart , Alfredo Carbonell, Octavio Fenollar, Begona Ferrero, Maria Dolores Samper, July 2013
Using natural fatty acids to treat the cellulose components of green composites reinforced with agro-waste fibers reduces their water uptake resulting in stable and environmentally friendly materials.
Syed Wasim Ali, Imtiaz Ahmed, Muhammad Arif Malik, July 2013
A method to synthesize strongly acidic cation-exchange resins from porous styrene-divinylbenzene copolymers can quickly monitor porosity and significantly reduce cost, health risks, and pollution.
Poly(lactic acid) optimized with chain extenders, plasticizers, and nucleating agents forms stable and defect-free films with improved mechanical properties.
Xi Zhang, Suying Wei, Huige Wei, Jiang Guo, Hongbo Gu, John Zhanhu Guo, May 2013
Polyaniline-magnetite nanocomposites can efficiently remove Cr(VI) from polluted water, be retrieved easily with a magnet, be regenerated with acid, and be reused for further Cr(VI) removal.
The purpose of this study is to determine how plastic-packaging companies define sustainability or sustainable practices and communicate sustainable practices to its target audience e.g., customer, consumer. There are two research questions this study intends to answer. First, how do such companies define sustainability or sustainable practices, and second, what persuasive appeals are used to communicate sustainable practices to their audiences via a company website?
Prashant Mutyala, Mohammad Meysami, Shuihan Zhu, Costas Tzoganakis, May 2013
The usage of waste tire rubber crumb as a dispersed phase in a thermoplastic matrix has been a topic of study for a long time. In order to obtain ‘value added products’ from polypropylene (PP) and waste ground rubber tire (GRT) crumb composites, the use of compatibilizers was found to be essential. The properties achieved remained inferior and thus GRT based thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) have limited applications. Due to similar reasons not many studies have been carried out on blending devulcanized rubber (DR) and plastics. However, DR being relatively more similar to virgin rubber is expected to perform better than GRT and result in improved properties as compared to GRT. This work expands our previous effort on a statistical analysis of compatibility between DR and PP, and the effectiveness of a sulphur cure system in compatibilization. We further study the role of a peroxide based cure system in detail with respect to compatibilization efficiency.
Applications, such as sheet and pipe, often require polymers that can resist abrasion during use. This is especially true if the application is to handle a slurry or grit. Although typical HDPE resins have good resistance to abrasion and can be broadly used with different chemicals, there are several applications that need a resin with improved abrasion resistance and good chemical resistance. For example, HDPE pipes designed to handle gritty water based slurries, such as mining slurries, may not be adequate to handle petroleum based slurries. This is especially true if the application is normally at an elevated temperature such as 60 degrees C. This paper discusses the evaluation of various HDPE resins and shows their differences in relationship to the environmental parameters encountered in slurry handling applications along with the processing parameters needed for manufacture. The different HDPE resins were tested at RT, 40 and 60 degrees C and at different immersion times in water and solvents. After the immersion conditioning, the resins were then abrasion tested. A modified HDPE resin shows acceptable abrasion resistance at both room temperature and elevated temperatures in both water and solvent based slurries. Evaluation of processability parameters were undertaken using melt index, spiral flow, and both lab and production extrusion equipment.
Jose M. Torradas, Renata O. Pimentel, David M. Dean, May 2013
The ability of maleic anhydride grafted polymers to compatibilize non-polar polyolefin polymers with polar polymers or contaminants has been confirmed and publicized by a number of experts in the field. This study reports on a new generation of random copolymers of ethylene and anhydride functional monomers specifically designed for compatibilizing blends of polyethylene polymers with polar components (other polymers or additives) in mixed recycle streams. The results show that these copolymers, with a very high level of reactive functionality (>3% wt. of anhydride), improve the impact strength of molded or extruded part made from mixed recycle streams containing Polyethylene Vinyl Alcohol (EVOH) or Polyamides (PA) even when the scrap contains high levels of moisture, lubricants or other resins. Two practical examples are discussed: use in regrind layers of extrusion blow molded containers and use in recycling of mixed polymer streams to produce other parts.
Attention has recently become focused on the performance advantages of nanocomposites, and particularly polymerbased nanocomposites with respect to incumbent “neat” polymers or metallic materials for lightweighting initiatives. In the interest of sustainability, the specific use of bio-reinforced nanocomposite parts and nanostructured coatings within automotive, aerospace, construction, medical and packaging applications is accelerating. These “green” nanocomposites can provide high mechanical strength at low density, low weight, and low cost while generating low carbon dioxide emissions. However, there are interfacial surface adhesion challenges with these and other nanocomposites, in addition to particle distribution and stability issues, which can inhibit full realization of their mechanical performance advantages. This paper will profile polymeric nanocomposites and nanocoatings, as well as define surface modification protocols using atmospheric pressure plasma technologies to optimize interfacial adhesion to similar and dissimilar materials.
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Any article that is cited in another manuscript or other work is required to use the correct reference style. Below is an example of the reference style for SPE articles:
Brown, H. L. and Jones, D. H. 2016, May.
"Insert title of paper here in quotes,"
ANTEC 2016 - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA May 23-25, 2016. [On-line].
Society of Plastics Engineers
Available: www.4spe.org.
Note: if there are more than three authors you may use the first author's name and et al. EG Brown, H. L. et al.
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