Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Recycled Polystyrene †
1
Center for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development, Polytechnic of Leiria, 2430-028 Marinha Grande, Portugal
2
School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic of Leiria, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the Materiais 2022, Marinha Grande, Portugal, 10–13 April 2022.
Mater. Proc. 2022, 8(1), 8088; https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008088
Published: 9 June 2022
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of MATERIAIS 2022)
Plastic waste is increasing, and a strategy to reduce it is needed to minimize the integration of virgin raw material in the production of parts. Motivated by legislation and environmental awareness, companies are looking for new materials or recycled ones. The main purpose of this work was to study the changes in performance of recycled polystyrene (PS). The thermal and mechanical properties of the injected samples were evaluated, namely tensile, 3-point bending, Shore D hardness, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA). The results obtained showed interesting correlations comparing virgin (after the first cycle of injection molding) and recycled raw materials. For instance, the tensile strength of the polystyrene decreased by about 15% after the first reuse of the virgin material (second cycle of injection molding) when compared to the virgin one, and this value was maintained in the second and third material reutilizations.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, F.M.B. and P.G.M.; methodology, F.M.B. and P.G.M.; software, A.A.C., A.P. and P.G.M.; validation, A.A.C., A.P., F.M.B. and P.G.M.; formal analysis, F.M.B. and P.G.M.; investigation, A.A.C., A.P., F.M.B. and P.G.M.; resources, P.G.M.; data curation, A.A.C. and A.P.; writing—original draft preparation, P.G.M.; writing-review and editing, A.A.C., A.P., F.M.B. and P.G.M. supervision, P.G.M.; project administration, P.G.M.; funding acquisition, P.G.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This work was financially supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) through the following Projects: UIDB/04044/2020; UIDP/04044/2020; Associate Laboratory ARISE LA/P/0112/2020; PAMI-ROTEIRO/0328/2013 (N° 022158).
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Costa, A.A.; Potêncio, A.; Martinho, P.G.; Barreiros, F.M. Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Recycled Polystyrene. Mater. Proc. 2022, 8, 8088. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008088
AMA Style
Costa AA, Potêncio A, Martinho PG, Barreiros FM. Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Recycled Polystyrene. Materials Proceedings. 2022; 8(1):8088. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008088
Chicago/Turabian StyleCosta, André A., Artur Potêncio, Pedro G. Martinho, and Fátima M. Barreiros. 2022. "Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Recycled Polystyrene" Materials Proceedings 8, no. 1: 8088. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008088
