Mechnical properties of recycled plastic from coated parts

 
So far, the automotive industry has been reluctant to introduce large amounts of recycled plastic into the vehicles, for fear of a significant reduction of the material performance. Indeed, painted parts are virtually not recycled given the potential negative effect of the coating impurities in the mechanical properties. DECOAT project aims to develop efficient systems to remove coatings at the end-of-life of the part, to reduce the damage and promote the use of recycled material in high-tech applications. During the project, a comprehensive assessment was done in order to determine the impact of reprocessing cycles, remaining coating and debonding methods in the final properties of the recycled polymer. The study was done with ABS and ABS/PC and different tests (MFI, tensile and impact strength) were performed. The results provide a better knowledge of the recycling effect and can be used to decide the potential applications of the recycled plastic.