Rapid Assessment and Qualification of Electronic Product Enclosure Plastics (RAQEPP)
for Manufacturing Support and End-of-Life Management
Materials management, at point of manufacture, assembly and at product end-of-life, has become a major challenge for the UK electronics industry in the light of current and pending European legislation under the overarching policies of Integrated Product Policy and Producer Responsibility including the WEEE directive, RoHS directive, Energy Using Products directive, Hazardous Waste Management regulations, Landfill directive, Waste Incineration directive, Packaging and Packaging Waste directives and the forthcoming Chemicals directive including REACH.
The recent DTI report on the electronics industry, “Electronics 2015: Making a Visible Difference”, also highlighted the need to encourage more interaction along the supply chain and the development of improved ways to respond to environmental legislation – this includes improved resource management at point of manufacture and at end-of-life.
There is an imperative to address the efficient recovery and qualification of engineering thermoplastics used in both the so-called brown and grey electronics products areas (i.e. consumer electronics, IT and equipment related equipment). Such materials may be qualified for potential re-use within the industry or placed on the open market as high value qualified recyclates. The rapid assessment of electronic product plastics (RAQEPP) projects seek to develop a tool to achieve this.
The RAQEPP Projects
Two projects have been funded to address this issue and include a 9 month scoping study funded by the Innovative Electronics Manufacturing Research Centre (IeMRC) and a 30 month in depth study funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) – both projects are endorsed by and have the support of Intellect. In addition both projects were submitted as proposals on behalf of the Sustainable Use of Materials Network for Electronic and Electrical Processing Network (SUMEEPnet) hosted by the PRC here at the University of Surrey.
Project Aims
The main aim of the projects is to scope and then develop spectroscopic optical probing methods to rapidly identify and qualify plastic enclosure materials used in electrical and electronic products both at the manufacturing stage and at end-of-life. This will utilise approaches already successfully developed for materials assessment in the power industry.
The outputs will be:
- Ability to undertake quality assurance measurements on incoming virgin materials and for evaluation of materials for end-of-life identification, classification and qualification.
- Qualification factors: to include materials type and grade, important formulation elements (e.g. fillers and flame retardants), colour, physical properties and processing parameters.
- The prediction the aged condition of materials at end-of-life and after multiple reprocessing operations for selected enclosure materials.
- A portable compact and robust instrument for use in manufacturing and recycling environments with full software support.
Industrial Participation
The RAQEPP projects are being undertaken with the assistance of a number of Intellect members, materials suppliers and recyclers who are providing relevant materials and information.
Contact
For more information please contact Professor Gary Stevens