Foam Glass Fabrication from End-of-Life Blended LCD Screen, Photovoltaic Glass Cullet and Flat Glass

Abstract

End-of-life LCD screens from various waste steam have been used to formulate foam glass, aiming for use as light weight, high compressive strength, and insulation purposes. Via conventional ball milling, the foam glass powder was mixed with a binder and fabricated through compaction under 5-10 MPa using stainless steel press moulds to give green samples in cubic and plate shapes. Firing the samples at 1000 – 1050 °C for 0.5-4 hours allowed the construction of foam glass structure, giving low densities of 0.15-0.23 g/cm3. Additions of cordierite, calcium carbonate, graphite and borax determined the phases and composition of the final recycling products. Cristobalite appeared as the main phase along with anorthite were found to give high compressive strength of 1.10-4.22 MPa to the foam glass. The foam glass possessed thermal conductivity in a range of 0.1004-0.1183 W/m K, which can be used for insulation purposes. Different foam glass formulation and geometries required different firing temperature and time to acquire suitable foam glass structure for specific purposes of compressive and thermal insulation properties.