3D printing is the key to recycling waste plastic

The United States recycles waste plastic bottles, which are used for 3D printing of key components in missions

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core tip: when key equipment fails, soldiers on the battlefield or remote bases often need to wait for weeks to replace components. Now, researchers from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Marine Corps have found a way to use waste plastic to make these parts in a few hours, such as water bottles, cardboard and other recyclable materials as starting materials for 3D printing

[China Packaging News] when key equipment fails, soldiers on the battlefield or remote bases often need to wait for weeks to replace parts. Now, researchers from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Marine Corps have found a way to use waste plastic to make these parts in a few hours, such as water bottles, cardboard and other recyclable materials as starting materials for 3D printing

researchers introduced their work at the 256th National Conference and exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) yesterday. "The potential applications of additive manufacturing technology are very broad - from pre production models and temporary parts to end-use aircraft parts and medical implants," said Dr Nicole Zander, ARL researcher

providing food, fuel, ammunition and maintenance components to combat forces is a daunting task that requires thousands of logistics support personnel, contractors and manufacturers. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Department of defense has a total of 5million items distributed through eight different supply chains. However, few of these items are stored in front-line locations, which means that the troops with administrative orders in these areas, such as arrows, occasionally encounter a shortage of important materials. Many of these devices have 3D printers that can produce spare parts and other equipment, but they rely on traditional raw materials that must be requisitioned, such as commercially available plastic filaments, and they may take days, weeks or even months to arrive

zander and co-author Tony Molnar from the U.S. Marine Corps studied the generation of 3D printing filaments from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET), bottles and plastics without any chemical modification or additives. PET plastic found in water and soda bottles is common around the base. Why do foreigners use metal surfaces? This layer of metal is used as heat reflection waste. Although the maximum stroke displacement limit pet is certainly widely used in many applications, it is not widely used as a raw material for FFF 3D printing due to its high melting temperature, water absorption and crystallinity

researchers used a process called Solid-state Shear crushing to produce composite pp/cellulose filaments. In this method, the chopped plastic and paper, cardboard or wood flour are crushed in a twin-screw extruder to produce fine powder, which is then melted and processed into 3D printing filaments. Researchers conducted mechanical tests on PET plastic filaments, and their work showed that recycled PET filaments were as strong and flexible as commercial filaments of 3D printers. In the test, the team used recycled PET filaments to print vehicle radio brackets, which are long-term military items. This process requires about 10 water bottles and takes about two hours to complete

zander explained, "in terms of mechanical properties, the bulk strength of most polymers used in FFF is between 30 and 100MPa. The average strength of regenerated pet is 70MPa, so it may be a suitable 3D printing raw material."

the team also studied 3D printing of other types of plastics, such as polypropylene (PP) for yogurt or cheese containers, or polystyrene (PS) for plastic containers. These plastics themselves do not work well, but the research team found that by mixing them with other plastics or adding fillers such as reinforcers or tougheners, strong and flexible filaments can be produced

researchers said that the driving force of this work is to enhance the ability and readiness of combatants through maintenance during deployment, and reduce the dependence of logistics supply chain. Zander's team is building a mobile recycling trailer to enable soldiers to reuse plastic as a raw material for 3D printing. She is also exploring ways to use plastic particles instead of filament printing materials, which can help soldiers quickly produce larger 3D printing parts and machinery

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