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Using Old Tires as 3D-Printing Material

Troedsson, Max LU (2016) MMK920 20161
Innovation
Abstract
Like with printers, material used for 3D­printing is what makes it expensive, especially if the printer is meant to be low­cost. Can used tires be the solution? This thesis proves that old tires can be turned into a usable granulate, with simple means. Then 3D­printing could be made accessible to people of lesser means.
Popular Abstract
The Department of Design Sciences at LTH is developing a 3D­printer meant for use in the developing world. When using a printer, 2D or 3D, the major cost is the toner or filament. For the vision of a low­cost, available­to­all, 3D printer to come alive the the raw­material has to be low­cost as well. With such a material available the 3D­printer could be the driver for great socioeconomic change.

The project at LTH has been split up into several projects, each given a part of the challenge. This project was tasked with proving a method to produce pulverised vulcanised rubber from used tires. All the thesis­projects, each contributing to the completion of the overall development project are managed by the Department of Design Sciences.
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The Department of Design Sciences at LTH is developing a 3D­printer meant for use in the developing world. When using a printer, 2D or 3D, the major cost is the toner or filament. For the vision of a low­cost, available­to­all, 3D printer to come alive the the raw­material has to be low­cost as well. With such a material available the 3D­printer could be the driver for great socioeconomic change.

The project at LTH has been split up into several projects, each given a part of the challenge. This project was tasked with proving a method to produce pulverised vulcanised rubber from used tires. All the thesis­projects, each contributing to the completion of the overall development project are managed by the Department of Design Sciences.

One of the previous parts to the larger project was Charlotta Engstrand’s work, confirmed that it was possible to 3D­print using pulverised vulcanised rubber mixed with pulverised PET­bottles. The PET would melt and glue the tire granulate together, and the tire granulate wouldn’t melt and therefore stabilized the structure.

One of the challenges this project was faced with was developing a repeatable method that made it easy to pulverise vulcanised rubber from used tires. On top of this, the developed method also had to be cheap and simple to recreate with limited resources. That the method had to meet this last criteria was just as important as its ease of use, since it was meant for the developing world.

The solution is a mill able to produce rubber powder of equivalent grain size to that which Engstrand used for testing. Both of these powders would be used as 3D­printing material for the 3D­printer that Engstrand produced in her Master’s Thesis project. For the tire pulverisation, a low cost proof of concept was developed.

In this report, I have presented a method that shows that it is possible to produce a vulcanised rubber granulate, as well as a working mill. Together with thermoplastic granulate and the findings of Engstrand’s project, this could be used as 3D­printing material with a very low cost, and a positive environmental impact, as it is using what would otherwise be considered environmentally hazardous waste. It would introduce 3D­printing to people of the developing world, as well as using environmentally taxing waste as a previously untapped potential. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Troedsson, Max LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Developing a Tire Mill for 3D-printing With Recycled Materials
course
MMK920 20161
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
3D-printing, recycling, low-cost
language
English
id
8891895
date added to LUP
2016-09-16 11:11:27
date last changed
2016-09-16 11:11:27
@misc{8891895,
  abstract     = {{Like with printers, material used for 3D­printing is what makes it expensive, especially if the printer is meant to be low­cost. Can used tires be the solution? This thesis proves that old tires can be turned into a usable granulate, with simple means. Then 3D­printing could be made accessible to people of lesser means.}},
  author       = {{Troedsson, Max}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Using Old Tires as 3D-Printing Material}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}