Reuse of laminated glass components as additives for thermoplastic matrix toughening

Abstract

Windshields or laminated safety glasses consist of a “sandwich” of a film of poly(vinyl butyral), PVB, between two sheets of glass. In spite of the high price of PVB and the large quantity of windshields that are annually discarded in landfields very little work has been conducted on finding alternatives to disposal of laminated glass residues to landfields. At the Materials Engineering Department of Escola Politecnica of the University of Sao Paulo polyvinyl butyral (PVB) and glass residues originated from industrial fabrication waste or from post-consumption products were tested as an impact modifier of Nylon-6. In particular results obtained by Dr Ticiane Sanches Valera during her PhD showed that it is possible to obtain composites/blends of these materials with improoved mechanical properties. In the present project blends and composites of nylon6 PVB and glass will be obtained. A different granulometry of glass, than the one used by Valera will be used to taylor the morphologies of the composites for enhanced mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of the composites and blends will be studied (impact and tensile tests) and compared to the ones of composites of PVB/N6 glass beads. These mechanical properties will be explained in light of the morphologies of the blend.