The characteristic of epoxy resin that makes decomposition easy by blending thermoplastic polymer

To recover and reuse valuable metal materials from waste at the time of abandonment, a thermosetting resin (epoxy resin) easily disassembled with solvent treatment was developed by blending a thermoplastic polymer (polyethersulfone, PES) to the thermosetting resin. The influence of the morphology of the cured resin upon the decomposition nature by the organic solvent was investigated. In the unmodified resin and the modified resin with homogeneous morphology, the cured resins did not decompose easily when they were dipped in dimethylformamide (DMF) at 23°C. It took 13 days or more to recover the metal materials molded into the cured resin. On the other hand, in the modified resin with continuous-phase morphology of the thermoplastic polymer, decomposition proceeded rapidly. The resin portion was decomposed completely in only 2 days and the molded metal materials were recoverable. Furthermore, the material with a continuous variation in the phase morphology of the cured resin, that is, continuously variable morphology material, was created by attaching a slope to the molding temperature of a sample. A place to decompose can be selected by using this material, which allows for easy recovery of molded valuables at the time of abandonment. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 527–534, 000