Recycling Vinyl
Recycling Vinyl
(OP)
Looking at vinyl windows the question came up of how much the % of recycled vinyl used affects the structure quality.
The question in my mind is just how is the recycled stuff incorporated into the product? Is it just a ground up filler? Or does it get re-polymerized? If the latter there shouldn't be any difference between a virgin and recycled product. I don't see how melting the stuff down re-polymerizes it. If its just a filler it seems to me it would make a LOT of difference.
So! Is "regrind" added to new vinyl just a filler or is it re-polymerized?
The question in my mind is just how is the recycled stuff incorporated into the product? Is it just a ground up filler? Or does it get re-polymerized? If the latter there shouldn't be any difference between a virgin and recycled product. I don't see how melting the stuff down re-polymerizes it. If its just a filler it seems to me it would make a LOT of difference.
So! Is "regrind" added to new vinyl just a filler or is it re-polymerized?





RE: Recycling Vinyl
Addition of regrind almost always makes the mechanical properties of a polymer worse. Where that would be a problem, the part designer will specify minimum mechanical properties, or more commonly, max percent regrind.
There is a strong economic incentive to use regrind, because the actual scrap rate of a production shop is substantial. I.e. injection mold sprues for a single shot of product may exceed the mass of actual product produced. For every startup of both injection molding and extrusion, a lot of 'not quite right' product comes out before the machines stabilize and start producing what you actually want. If you can't grind that stuff up and re-use it, you need to rent a really big dumpster.
;---
Re-polymerization, as you call it, is at least theoretically possible for some polymers, but so far as I know, it's not economically attractive and is not done commercially. I'd imagine it would produce some really ugly waste streams, and there would be challenges associated with separating the common fillers like talc, silica, glass fiber, teflon fiber, lead, and who knows what.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Recycling Vinyl
RE: Recycling Vinyl
RE: Recycling Vinyl
Even when bored out of his skull, a kid can do a better job of detecting when something is not right, and can decline to start another cycle.
... so far. Robots are getting better, and kids are ... not like they used to be. I keep hoping that's only a perception problem.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA