Recovery of the polymer content of electrical cables for thermal and acoustic insulation

Abstract

This article evaluates the potential of polymeric waste of electrical cables as a raw material for new products, identifying possible areas of application. In this study, several panels samples were produced, by compression moulding, using only waste of electric cables as raw material, with different weights and particle sizes, which were after mechanically, thermally and acoustically characterized. The increase of weight and the use of smaller particles sizes allows better mechanical properties, such as compressive strength, since it was verified the improvement of required force to reach 25% of the initial thickness to 1774.7 N. It was also verified an increase of thermal resistance with use of smaller particle size and of acoustic insulation for samples with greater weights. These results allow to conclude that the waste electrical cables can have potential to use on building’s construction or rehabilitation, due to interesting properties of thermal and acoustic insulation.