414 Technical Notes / J S A E Review 17 (1996) 401-416

Technical Notes
A study of recycling technology for paint-coated
plastic automotive bumper
Noriko Ohori, Toshimitsu Suyama, Naotaka Yamamoto, Nobuo Yagi
Material Department, Isuzu Advanced Engineering Center. Ltd., 8 Tsuchidana, Fujisawa-shi, Kanagawa, 252 Japan

Received 8 April 1996

1. Introduction Thickness Compositionof Resin

7 Clear ~-]
Demands for recycling plastic materials have increased
as interest in environmental protection and resources con- 1O0 u m Base ~ Thermosetplastic
servation has grown. The automotive industry is no excep-
tion. • Acryl - Urethane
Among automotive parts, plastic bumpers are relatively etc.
easy to recycle because of their size and because they
generally consist of a single material e.g. polypropylene 4~5 mm Thermoplastic
(PP). Hence an increasingly greater number are being ±1
recycled and reformed into new parts.
Fig. 1. Cross-sectional profile of painted PP bumper.
Most bumpers, however, have paint applied to their
surface to improve appearance and weatherability. Chips
of paint film making their way into reformed products
could significantly detract from the products physical prop-
erties and surface quality. the expected improvement in compatibility and adhesion
This study is intended to develop technology to counter of the paint with PP, a study was made using PP bumpers
these negative effects of paint chips. coated with thermosetting melamine paint. In addition, to
ensure good productivity and economics our objective was
to use no special equipment.

3. Development of a modified paint film process

2. Overview of technology to eliminate effects of paint
films
3.1. Selection modifier

As shown in Fig. 1, a paint-coated plastic bumper First we tried to find a modifier that would act on the
consists of a thermoplastic base with primer, base, and ether linkage which forms molecular bonds in acrylic
clear coat applied on top of it. The paint chemically reacts melamine paint. Figure 2 shows the molecular structure of
and bonds under heat, forming a solid and durable coating.
Major known techniques to remove the paint film are:
(1) mechanical methods such as shot-blasting or
melting/filtering, and (2) chemical methods such as alkali Etherlinkage
dissolution or hydrolysis [1]. However, none of these
methods alone have been effective in eliminating the harm- ..c-c-co-o-c,flc.2-o-c.~¢,-<'~,-c,~-o-,
ful effects of paint chips on quality and physical proper- CHz N
3 N
ties. In addition, these methods are not sufficiently produc- ~-- CH H-N-CH2OR
I
tive or economical to make recycling feasible. CHz
I
To address the problems associated with physical prop- H3C-C-CO-O-R
l
erties, we attempted to change the molecular structure of CH2
the paint film by cleaving molecular bonds. To investigate Fig. 2. Molecular structure of acrylic melamine.

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 TechnicalNotes/JSAE Review 17 (1996)401-416 415

~ ; Crushed
PPBumper
I

Twin-screw
Extruder
Pelletizing Cooling~ ~ ~I~NHOpper
~ ~ - ~ - ~ , ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . I I

;):,. ~ q " I I I I
,3 I I I I
KneadingIModi,yingRe,ctionl Mixingand
Melting
Fig. 3. Paint-coatedPP bumpersmodifyingprocess.

acrylic melamine paint. A film of base coat was applied to
the slide glass, and powdered modifiers were applied over
the films before baking at 200°C.
A variety of .modifiers were tested. Some modifiers
containing some heterocyclic compounds (especially azole
which includes nitrogen atoms), were found highly reac-
tive and could easily soften and melt the primer and base
coat or paint films. The molecular structure of these speci-
mens was analyzed with a Fourier transform infrared
spectrometer (FT-IR), and it was found that their structure
was weakened in that part of the ether linkage which
absorbs light of 1560 c m - i . These specimens dissolve in
chloroform, while cured paint film does not normally
dissolve. This fact obviously indicates that azole is suffi-
ciently reactive as a modifier to act on the methylene
radicals which are activated in the ether linkage. This
changes the molecular structure by cleaving the ether
linkage.
As a result, we chose two types of azole (referred to as
modifier A and modifier B) as modifiers.
3.2. Application to paint-coated bumpers
(1) Eliminating the harmful effects of paint chips in a
twin-screw extruder
Used paint-coated PP bumpers recovered from the field
were roughly crushed and a powder modifier was added to
make the paint film harmless to the process. This modify-
ing process takes place in a twin-screw extruder/pelletizer
which, in effect, serves as a reactor (see Fig. 3). It does not
require any special equipment and the process is very
time-efficient.

Fig. 4. Cross section of reformedmaterial processedwith modifierA.

416 Technical Notes /JSAE Review 17 (1996) 401-416

Since the modification takes place inside an extruder, it High

• FlexuralModulus
is essential to determine clearly to what extent the paint
l [] Elongationat Rupture
chips are dissolved. We presumed that their condition
could be determined by examining the undissolved inor-
ganic materials that come from the recycled plastic mate- Material
rial. Particles which appeared to be paint chips were

r°ei'sLow
............i L
Requisite
analyzed to find elements in them. Figure 4 shows such Level
particles found in recycled and reformed material pro-
cessed with modifier A. The results of this analysis are
shown in Table 1. Major components of the particles are
titanium dioxides, aluminum flakes, barium sulfates, etc., Virgin Material Recycled
all inorganics included in paint. Measurement of particle Material Modifiedwith A Material
sizes indicates a typical size of about 3 to 4 /xm with a Fig. 5. Mechanical property of virgin and recycled material.
maximum of about 7 / z m . This in turn, indicates that the
paint chips were fully dissolved and dispersed.
All this indicates that the extruder effectively serves as of the virgin material, and hence the same molding condi-
a reactor, a mechanism to reduce paint films into low tions could be used. In addition, the surface quality of
molecular weight substances and mixer for paint films and parts made using the virgin material and those made using
PP. recycled material were found to be the same. At the same
time no adverse effects were found with regard to
(2) Quality of recycled material paintability, paint adhesion or weatherability.
The material of 100% recycled PP was evaluated for Thus, the modifying process is quite effective in im-
mechanical properties, moldability and surface quality. proving the material quality of painted recycled PP
Examination of mechanical properties revealed that, bumpers, to the same level as that of the virgin material.
with the addition of modifier A, the recycled material is
capable of elongation about equal to that of the virgin
material (see Fig. 5). Without the modifier, the elongation 4. Summary
was known to be seriously affected. This improvement is
most probably the result of the modifier acting on the Our objective was to eliminate the harmful effect of
boundaries of paint chips to improve their compatibility paint films in recycled material. Our study focused on the
with the PP resin and adhesion. molecular bonding in paint resin, and reached the follow-
Next, bumpers made from recycled material were ing conclusions:
checked for moldability and surface quality. The material (1) The use of a modifier allows the ether linkage in the
showed about the same flow and mold shrinkage as those paint film to be cleaved and its molecular structure changed.
This resulted in improved compatibility between the paint
Table 1 and the material, rendering the paint film chips harmless.
Energy dispersed X-ray spectrometer (EDX) measurement result of parti- (2) Bumpers molded using modified recycled material
cle in recycled material meet requirements for mechanical properties, moldability,
Analytical Particle Estimate material paintability and surface quality.
point size (3) A continuous process where modification and pel-
a 5/a.m on Aluminium foil + ot letization are done simulataneously in a twin-screw ex-
b 1-3 p.m Barium sulfate truder was achieved. This reduces the number of process
c 1-3/xm Calcium carbonate
steps and processing time, while providing improved pro-
d 1-3/xm Titanium dioxide+ o~
e 1 p.m pass Titanium dioxide+ ot ductivity and economies.
f 1 p.m pass Titanium dioxide+ ot
g 1 /xm pass Barium sulfate
h 1 /tm pass Titanium dioxide Reference
i 1 /zm pass Titanium dioxide+ a
j 3-5/.tm Talc
[1] Handa, J. et al., Development of Recycling Technology for Automo-
k 1-3/xm Barium sulfate + ot
tive Bumper (in Japanese with English Summary), Proceeding of
or: compound of tin, potassium JSAE No. 9535071 (1995).