Effect of particle size and amount of nonmetallic PCB materials on the mechanical properties of rHDPE/PCB composites

Abstract

Composites based on recycled high density polyethylene (rHDPE) and nonmetallic printed circuit board (PCB) waste were made through melt compounding and compression molding. In this study, the chemical compositions of the nonmetallic PCB material were determined via XRF and it was confirmed that it contains predominantly 72.7% of glass fiber materials which improve the mechanical performances of the rHDPE matrix. The main aim of this study is to determine the effect of different particle sizes and loadings of nonmetallic PCB on mechanical properties of rHDPE/PCB composite. The results indicated that mechanical properties of composites were excellent when nonmetallic materials with particle size from 0.09 to 0.15 mm and adding amount was 30 wt%. Microscopic images revealed that nonmetallic particles with the size of 0.07-0.09 mm and 0.09 -0.15 mm contained majority of single glass fibers whereas, bigger particle sizes of 0.15-0.3 mm and 0.3-0.5 mm, contained glass fibers in the form of bundles and large resin sheet.