Biography
Biography: Denis Rodrigue
Abstract
One of the most used resin in the plastics industry is polyethylene (PE). Although PE has good impact resistance and ductility, its low maximum use temperature and mechanical strength limit some commercial development, especially for load-bearing applications. To get better overall performances, crosslinking is performed to improve the chemical, mechanical and thermal properties of PE. Although PE can be crosslinked by using various chemical and physical methods, this makes the resulting polymers more difficult to recycle since a 3D network is created. In this presentation, the different PE crosslinking techniques to manufacture crosslinked PE (XLPE) parts are described. Then, as more than half of the XLPE-based products are disposed directly after use, several options to reuse and/or recycling these products are discussed to overcome this environmental issue and find sustainable solutions. A focus is made on mechanical recycling and de-crosslinking techniques for XLPE to generate recycled-XLPE (r-XLPE). Finally, a conclusion will review the current situation and research gaps which must be filled by future works.