Separation and salvage of components of parts
AssigneeFord Motor Company
InventorJack W. Morgan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Laminated scrap produced by a reaction injection molding process, comprising a thermoplastic resin substrate and a vinyl skin, together with a polyurethane foam layer disposed therebetween, is ground with cryogenic coating. Thereafter, the granulated particles of the scrap lamination are passed serially through density-based separators to separate the laminated layers. The method and apparatus of the invention permit the separation of the layers of such scrap parts, such that one or more of the constituent parts may be recovered.
Claims15
An improved method of separating into individual components scrap lamination from a reaction injection molding process, said method comprising the steps of:
- obtaining scrap lamination comprising an inner foam layer having a skin on one side thereof and a thermoplastic resin substrate on the other side;
- cooling said scrap laminate to a temperature sufficient to materially avoid plasticization of said scrap laminate during grinding;
- grinding the scrap lamination while in said non-plasticization, cooled state to form an aggregate formed of interspersed foam, skin and thermoplastic resin particles and collecting the resulting ground aggregate;
- passing the aggregate to a density-based separator, and collecting the first dense fraction therefrom comprising an enriched concentration of thermoplastic resin particles;
- and
- serially passing the first dense fraction to a density-based separator to provide a second dense fraction which is further enriched in concentration of the thermoplastic resin.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.