Evaluation of a non-conventional recycling process of amber PET to obtain decorative plates

Abstract

This article studies the obtaining of decorative plates from recycled PET, taking in account the effect of temperature and time in a type of alternative processing of recycled PET in the resistance to bending, optimizing these parameters for the production of plates for the possible replacement of decorative ceramics. For that purpose, the recycled amber PET was washed and cut into squares of approx. 1 cm2 long Subsequently, the bending test was determined in a Tinius Olsen H50KS universal machine under the ASTM D790 standard in amber, green and transparent PET plates, obtained at 320ºC, 330ºC and 340ºC in 20, 30, 40 minutes. The thermal properties of the raw materials were studied thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry, at a heating rate of 10 ° C / min, in air, and in a temperature range of 30 °C to 500 ° C. Additionally, mixtures of Amber PET (PA) with transparent PET (PT) and green PET (PV) were made in the following proportion: 70% PA-30% PT, 70% PA-30% PV, and 70% PA-15% PT -15% PV to improve the mechanical properties and achieve different tonalities in the plate. The results suggest that the temperature and the optimal time to melt the plates were 320 °C and 40 minutes respectively, reaching a flexural strength of 71 MPa. Under these same conditions of temperature and time, the mixtures with transparent PET and green PET present a significant decrease in the resistance to flexion. It concluded that the plates obtained from recycled PET are suitable for decorative use, since according to the mechanical tests these reached 71 MPa for the bending test.