Novel recycling of plastic waste into high impact resistant ultralightweight thermally insulated hybrid composite

Abstract

This research discusses the development of a high performance composite out of waste plastic that is ultralightweight, thermally insulated, and high impact resistant. Polycarbonate sheet and Cross-linked Polyethylene (XLPE) foam were combined to create the composite, and silicon adhesive was used to fabricate the composite. Polycarbonate sheets are high impact resistant material, high thermal insulation is provided by XLPE foam, and silicon adhesive is used because of its low thermal conductivity. The composite was fabricated using a stacking technique. The composite prototype was then evaluated by experimenting it to dry ice at a temperature of −78.6°C. Drop tests, compression tests, density measurements was carried out, and thermal analysis was carried out using thermogravimetric analysis. The sample can endure low temperatures while maintaining room temperature on the other side, according to a 24 h dry ice test, whilst a drop test demonstrated that it can withstand significant impact loads. A numerical simulation using Abaqus/Explicit was also used to validate the variations in temperature between the outside surface at −20°C and the inside surface maintained at 30°C of the composites when exposed to cold temperature. The result reveals that the hybrid composite are highly promising in terms of thermal insulation.