Cast Glass Components out of Recycled Glass

Cast Glass Components out of Recycled Glass: Potential and Limitations of Upgrading Waste to Load-bearing Structures

Bristogianni, T. (TU Delft Applied Mechanics)
Oikonomopoulou, F. (TU Delft Structural Design & Mechanics)
Justino de Lima, C.L. (TU Delft Applied Mechanics)
Veer, F.A. (TU Delft Structural Design & Mechanics)
Nijsse, R. (TU Delft Applied Mechanics; TU Delft OLD Structural Design)

Louter, Christian (editor)
Bos, Freek (editor)
Belis, Jan (editor)
Veer, Fred (editor)
Nijsse, Rob (editor)

2018

Although in theory glass can be endlessly remelted without loss in quality, in practice only a small percentage gets recycled, mainly by the packaging industry. Most of the discarded glass fails to pass the high quality standards of the prevailing glass industry -due to coatings, adhesives, other contaminants or incompatibility of the recipe- and ends up in the landfill. However, employing discarded glass in cast components for building applications can be a way to reintroduce this waste to the supply chain. Such components can tolerate a higher percentage of inclusions, without necessarily compromising their mechanical or aesthetical properties. This paper explores the potential but also the limitations of recycling glass in order to obtain load-bearing components. First, an overview is provided regarding which types of glass reach the recycling plants and the which not, arguing on the reasons behind this selection. Afterwards, a series of experiments is presented, exploring the possibilities of recycling everyday glass waste, from beer bottles and Pyrex® trays to mobile phone screens. Each type of glass waste is initially cast separately to define its flow capability and risk of crystallization. The above information is linked to the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses of the samples prior to recycling. Then, the possibility to mix different glass recipes without fracturing is evaluated. The results point out the types of glass with potential in structural applications, and the overall feasibility of the concept.

glass waste
glass recycling
cast glass components
kiln-casting

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:81344446-6d2b-48aa-ba16-c396d798b70f

https://doi.org/10.7480/cgc.6.2130

TU Delft OPEN

978-94-6366-044-0

Proceedings of the Challenging Glass Conference 6 (CGC 6): International Conference on Architectural and Structural Applications of Glass

Challenging Glass 6, 2018-05-17 → 2018-05-18, TU Delft, Delft, Netherlands

Institutional Repository

conference paper

© 2018 T. Bristogianni, F. Oikonomopoulou, C.L. Justino de Lima, F.A. Veer, R. Nijsse