A plate produced by nonmetallic materials of pulverized waste printed circuit boards

Noble metals and Cu mainly are recycled in treating waste printed circuit boards (PCBs), and a large amount of nonmetallic materials in PCBs are disposed of by combustion or landfill, which may cause secondary pollution and resource-wasting. In this study, a kind of nonmetallic plate (NMP) has been produced by nonmetallic materials of pulverized waste PCBs. The NMP is produced by a self-made hot-press former through adding resin paste as a bonding agent. Furthermore, microshapes of nonmetallic materials and effects of the contents and particle sizes of nonmetallic materials on mechanical properties of the NMP are investigated. It has been found that the nonmetallic materials with particle size from 0.3 to 0.15 mm are in the form of fiber bundles, with the majority of fibers being encapsulated in resin. Nonmetallic materials shorter than 0.07 mm consist of single glass fiber and resin powder. When nonmetallic materials content was 20 wt%,the NMP with particle size of nonmetallic materials less than 0.07 mm, has excellent mechanical properties,which results in a flexural strength of 68.8 MPa and a Charpy impact strength of 6.4 kJ/m2. This novel technique offers a possibility for recycling of nonmetallic materials of PCBs and resolving the environmental pollutions during recycling of PCBs.