Evaluation of Mechanical Properties of Composites Manufactured from Recycled Tetra Pak® Containers

Abstract

Context: Tetra Pak® is a common material used for the production of food containers. Currently, those containers are recycled by physical separation of the cellulose fibers through a hydro pulped process, but sometimes separating the individual components is not economically viable. This work evaluates an al­ternative process to obtain composites from recycled Tetra Pak®. Methodology: Tetra Pak® used containers were co­llected and cut into small pieces at the laboratory. Then, the containers were hot-pressed to obtain sheets in a manual hydraulic press by using different confi­gurations. Samples were cut, and their tensile stren­gth was evaluated (ASTM D3039). Failure analysis of samples was carried out by FE-SEM to identify issues related to processing and to understand the differen­ces in mechanical properties. Results: The results showed that the lowest tensile strength was 9.5 MPa (type I sample) and the highest tensile strength was 37.4 MPa (type III sample). Conclusions: The results of mechanical tests show that this material can be used for non-structural purposes in the building industry. Failure analysis shows that fiber pull-out and delamination are the most impor­tant failure mechanisms in type I samples. For type III sample, failure was produced by a sequence of intralaminar fractures