Valorizing Automotive Tire Waste via Additive Manufacturing Technologies
摘要
Towards a sustainable future and aiming to reduce pressure on natural resources, circular economy and recycling play a crucial role. Therefore, it is essential to develop methods for recycling non-recyclable materials with remarkable physio-mechanical properties. One category of such materials is automotive tire waste, composed of synthetic and natural rubber, chemical additives, fabrics, etc. Automotive end-of-life tires are discarded in large numbers (over 1 billion) annually and consist of non-recyclable materials with significant environmental hazards. In this context, the current study aims to present a sustainable method for utilizing automotive tire waste by employing robust recycling systems and additive manufacturing technologies. Automotive end-of-life tires were shredded into a powder form and mixed with Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) pellets to create distinct mixtures with various compositions. These mixtures were processed through a robust recycling system to develop printable filaments made of composite materials with a polymeric matrix and tire particles as reinforcement. The produced filaments, as secondary life products, were used for Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) of tensile and compression 3D printed specimens. These specimens were designed and tested under quasi-static tensile and compression loading, according to ISO 527 and 604, in order to be evaluated in terms of structural integrity and repeatability. The results of this study indicate a sustainable process for utilizing automotive tire waste via additive manufacturing with the ultimate objective of reusing and remanufacturing in a more circular way valorizing the tire industry and reducing the impacts of human economic activities on the environment.