RECYCLING OF DUROMERS AND ELASTOMERS : bachelor thesis

Duromeri su sintetski polimerni materijali koji nastaju tako da se polimerizat u obliku viskozne kapljevine (smole) umreži i oblikuju u kalupima. Širokog su raspona primjene zbog svojih dobrih fizikalnih, kemijskih i mehaničkih svojstava. Elastomeri su niskoumreženi polimerni materijali na bazi prirodnog ili sintetskog kaučuka i drugih polimera. Procesom vulkanizacije ili drugim načinom umreživanja polimerne molekule kaučuka se poprečno povezuju stvarajući elastomere, tj. gumu. Raširenom upotrebom duromernih i elastomernih materijala nastaju velike količine otpada kojeg je potrebno na adekvatan način zbrinuti. Odlaganjem polimernog otpada bez prethodne oporabe i iskorištavanja vrijednih svojstava, gomilaju se na odlagalištima otpada i ne koriste se u svrhu očuvanja resursa. Postoje tri načina oporabe polimernog materijala, a to su: mehanička, kemijska i energijska oporaba. Odabir određene metode oporabe ovisiti će o strukturi pojedinog polimera.Thermosets are synthetic polymeric materials, which appear in the form of liquids or syrups(resins) and are polymerized and formed into molds. They have a wide range of applications due to their good physical, chemical and mechanical properties. Elastomers are polymeric materials of low crosslinking degree based on natural or synthetic rubber and similar polymers. In the process of vulcanization or another type of crosslinking polymer molecules are linked together to form elastomers, i.e. rubber. The widespread use of thermosets and elastomeric materials produces large amounts of waste that need to be adequately disposed of. Disposing of polymer waste without prior recovery and exploitation of valuable properties, waste dumps are piled up and not used for resource conservation. There are three ways to recover a polymer material: mechanical, chemical and energy recovery. The choice of a particular recovery method will depend on the structure of the individual polymer