Polytechnic and design, Vol. 11 No. 3, 2023.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.19279/TVZ.PD.2023-11-3-11
WASTE PLASTICS AS A SOURCE FOR 3D PRINTING FILAMENTS
Ivana Plazonić
orcid.org/0000-0002-9721-6750
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Graphic Arts, Getaldićeva 2, Zagreb, Croatia
Željka Barbarić-Mikočević
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Graphic Arts, Getaldićeva 2, Zagreb, Croatia
Maja Rudolf
orcid.org/0000-0002-3959-952X
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Graphic Arts, Getaldićeva 2, Zagreb, Croatia
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Due to the lifestyle, the production of various types of waste in the household and industry is constantly increasing. To reduce the amount of waste, which ends its life cycle as garbage in landfills creating an environmental problem for current and future generations, proper sorting and disposal is important so that it can be used as raw material. Plastic is an irreplaceable material today in the fields of packaging, transport, construction, medicine, and electronics. Due to its properties and price, it is used for various purposes, and we practically cannot imagine life without it, which results in huge amounts of produced plastic. Careless handling of plastic waste leads to pollution of the environment, especially seas and oceans. The long-term decomposition of plastic materials is a big problem, and an additional problem is that its decomposition creates microplastics that end up in water, soil, and air, and thus in the food chain. Therefore, recycling is the best option for managing plastic waste. The symbol printed or embossed on the plastic packaging provides information about the kind of plastic material and the possibility of its recycling for certain purposes. By mechanical processes, plastic waste is turned into recyclate that can be used for new plastic products. Due to their properties and design possibilities, plastic materials have almost unlimited possibilities and can be adapted to market requirements, and in today's digital age, manual and factory production is increasingly being replaced by 3D printing technology aimed at 3D printing various products made of polymer materials, i.e. plastic. This research gives the overview of today’s possibilities in 3D printing and considers the approach of converting plastic waste into 3D filaments that would contribute to the necessary reduction of plastic waste.
Keywords
plastic; recyclate; 3D printing; 3D filaments
Hrčak ID:
311517
URI
Publication date:
24.11.2023.
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