They tried to tell me my bottled water habit was destroying the environment. But, thank goodness, I have helped Volvo solve a problem that couldn't have happened without my help. They used my bottles to make their trucks safer. I accept your thanks!
There must be a fortune in the garbage dumps around the world if we engineers could just find a market and a way to use this vast "natural" resource. Maybe we are going about this all wrong? It took hydrocarbon-based plastics to create much of the landfill, and maybe we can find a way to reverse some of the processes and solve some fuel issues. There must be 100 years of petrofuels just waiting to be reconstituted...
Warren, you're not the only one to conclude that there's a lot of valuable material in the world's landfills (let alone all the BTUs). That's part of the move to divert, convert and reuse recycled plastics. Thermoplastics can either be recycled mechanically by grinding them up and reusing them, which usually results in downcycled plastics, i.e., of a lower grade, or by completely melting them and turning them back into their original constituents, either for use as fuel or as virgin polymers. What's unusual here is that the mechanical process has resulted in upcycled plastics, not downcycled ones.
Ann, that's a good and innovative idea. As of now plastic is an un-decomposed material and it's not an ecco friendly material. I think the new move from Volvo can cause a drastic change in automobile world, where other companies may follow the similar procedures. This in turn can help to reduce the plastic content from earth surface. But, am not sure about the future of replacement plastic parts from automobiles.
Mydesign, thanks for the feedback. I'm curious to know what exactly you mean by your statement that you're "not sure about the future of replacement plastic parts from automobiles." What are you not sure about? Their value as materials for those applications, or something else?
Good story, Ann. This recycled material does double eco duty. It keeps water bottles out of the landfill while also making the heavy trucks lighter (and thus more fuel efficient). Good solution.
Chuck, good question. I don't see why not, assuming the spec requirements were the same. The material, and a couple of others they showed, definitely have other automotive apps: there was a large array of prototype parts made of several of these materials, including this one.
There was no mention of this specific material used for Volvo's side air deflection brackets also being used for under-hood applications (I would have reported it, since I'm interested in that application, too). SABIC did not say if it is developing a version of this material, or other materials, for that use. In what I've seen in the market to date, handling hot and cold air and handling under-hood temps are apps with two different sets of specs.
Ann, I mean it in a different way. Plastics are recycled to form truck parts and any recycling method for reusing the damaged spare parts made out of plastic. I mean reusing the damaged plastic spare parts. What about the durability of recycled plastic spare parts when compare with the metallic components.
Mydesign, thanks for the clarification. As I mentioned in my reply to Warren, below, it all depends on the process you use. Whether parts made of plastic are damaged or not at their EOL, they are not reused--they are recycled. Thermoplastics can either be recycled mechanically by grinding them up and reusing them, which usually results in downcycled plastics, i.e., of a lower grade, or by completely melting them and turning them back into their original constituents, either for use as fuel or as virgin polymers. Those virgin polymers are just as strong--hence the term "virgin"--as the original polymers. What's unusual here, and the innovation SABIC rightly claims, is that a mechanical process has resulted in upcycled plastics, not downcycled ones. Of course, they are not telling us how they did this.
Great article. Is this the same genearl process / material that was discussed in a previous piece relating to bridge construction? It seems that there are more and more uses for this. Maybe, some day soon there will be profit in recycling and municipalities can subsidized their budgets out of recycling rather than having to pay for mandated programs.
notarboca, can you tell us what you mean? This material and Axion's material use in the Scottish bridge are both proprietary processes developed by industry and commercialized. What alternative method were you thinking of?
What I meant was if more manufacturers were using this, or a similar process, it would be of great benefit. Commercialization is very good, too; you discover the process, you can license it and profit from it.
notarboca, thanks for the explanation. We are discussing materials, here, not processes. I agree that the more it is used the greater the benefit. So far, all of these new materials are discovered and provided by commercial entities, so I'm not sure how they could be provided or distributed without without commercialization.
Excellent article and very timely.GE sold its "plastics" division to SABIC about three years ago.I felt at that time this would mark the last we hear of engineering efforts for the company.I'm happy this is not the case.With petroleum prices escalating every week, manufacturers are searching for methods to lessen weight if that can be accomplished without sacrificing safety yet maintain integrity of design.Recycling is an excellent use of products that otherwise would be garbage sitting in a landfill.Improving your carbon footprint is a useful byproduct of that exercise also.We certainly must applaud the efforts of Volvo and SABIC for extending the life of products no longer used for their primary function. By the way, this is one of the things engineers do—innovate!This is one of those stories that should be told to graduating high school seniors who sit "on the bubble" wondering whether or not to enter the engineering field.We also might let Congress know there are still people and companies who can cooperate to get things accomplished.Maybe they will take a hint!
bobjengr, glad you enjoyed the article. The SABIC representatives I met with mentioned that their Innovative Plastics division originated in the former GE group. I was really impressed with what SABIC has accomplished. That said, SABIC is a Saudi Arabian company, not an American one, without all of the constraints (even for beneficient reasons) American ones have and with many social and political conditions US engineers might not want to live with.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
2 
