Maximum Percent of Post-Consumer Recycled Polypropylene in an Interior Hard Trim Panel

Sammanfattning

This study examines the influences PCR PP has on mechanical properties, aesthetics,CO2 footprint, and the effects from aging. The purpose of the project is to aidVolvo Cars in updating their material composition of hard trim interior panels byrecommending a suitable percentage of PCR PP to use. The investigated materialshave been 30% PIR PP, 30% PCR PP, 40% PCR PP, 50% PCR PP, 60% PCR PP,and 70% PCR PP with the same amount of additives. To understand this influence,methods such as aging, tensile testing, impact testing, differential scanningcalorimetry, perceived quality assessment, and CO2 footprint calculations were performed.The findings indicate that the mechanical properties are strongly limited bythe impact strength, which decreases with the amount of PCR PP. This limits therecommendation for Volvo Cars to 30% PCR PP to be used. Regarding appearance,the perceived quality assessment shows that a switch to the highest material studied,70% PCR PP, is possible. The tests performed present that aging for 500h and1000h affects the crystallinity, resulting in varied outcomes for the studied mechanicalproperties. The CO2 footprint overall decreases with the amount of PCR PPcontent. Although, between 30% PIR PP and 30% PCR PP there is an increase inthe CO2 footprint. Further studies should explore the effects on the full componentsinstead of material samples, along with additional tests of the same kind as thoseconducted to further strengthen the results.