A multi-scale, multi-physics solution to inform water bottle recycling at U.S. Navy makerspaces
Abstract
A multi-scale, multi-physics integrated experimental and computational solution is proposed to inform polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling at U.S. Navy makerspaces. Plastic waste poses an extreme environmental sustainability problem, as the United States (US) recycles only 9.5 percent of its plastics. Almost all single-serving and 2-liter bottles of carbonated soft drinks and water sold in the US are made from PET; therefore, an effective mitigation strategy is to repurpose this material. In 2015 thermoplastics made up 79 percent of the plastics market, and these materials can be extruded using 3D printers, offering the technological capability to reduce plastic waste by directly recycling consumer plastics locally. The PI has successfully demonstrated the production of filament for Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) in her lab using shredded water bottles. However, this preliminary filament suffers from extreme variability in strength and fracture properties as well as failed prints. An understanding of the effects of the many uncertain variables spanning constituent material properties to extrusion settings on recycled PET microstructure is essential to developing a process to produce filament with adequate and repeatable mechanical properties. While producing and testing filament to explore this vast parameter space is prohibitive, validated computational simulation provides an effective capability to rapidly explore these variables and their corresponding effects on mechanical properties. Formulation of a multi-scale Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) solution integrated with filament fabrication and testing for characterization and validation enables investigation of the many multi-physics effects as well as offers a rapid approach to explore the use of biodegradable fibers to customize mechanical properties. With the knowledge gained from this research, water bottles can be extruded at Navy facilities using 3D printers
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 09, 2025
- Source ID
- N001742010024
Entities
People
- Stephanie Termaath
Organizations
- United States Navy
- University of Tennessee