Recycling, Selection and Design Flashcards
From an environmental perspective what qualities should the ideal material possess?
It should be totally recyclable or completely biodegradable.
What does recyclable mean?
Recyclable means that a material, after having completed its life cycle in one component, could be reprocessed, could re-enter the materials cycle, and could be reused in another component-a process that could be repeated an indefinite number of times.
What does completely biodegradable mean?
By completely biodegradable, we mean that, by interactions with the environment (natural chemicals, microorganisms, oxygen, heat, sunlight, etc.), the material deteriorates and returns to virtually the same state in which it existed prior to the initial processing.
What are issues surrounding the disposal of metals?
Some metals such as lead are toxic so shouldn’t be land filled. Problems arise during the separation of different alloys when recycling, paints and anodized layers may also act as contaminants.
What are limitations of recycling glass?
The primary materials (sand and soda ash for example) are already very cheap. Recycled glass must also be sorted by colour and composition.
Why are composites difficult to recycle?
They are multiphase in nature.
Explain very briefly why an Ashby Map representation of properties is useful.
Visual representation of the material space which can aid with material selection. By combining two properties and drawing guidelines, figures of merit can be developed to compare materials against each other.
