(171i) Sustainable Recycling of Crosslinked Polyethylene (XLPE) Via Foam Engineering

Due to the closed-cell structure, crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) has high water absorption and thermal resistance. In addition, it shows good buoyancy characteristics due to its low density. These features make the material attractive to many industries and applications, such as a submarine power cable, construction of roads or buildings, and insulation purposed public infrastructure. However, XLPE is a thermoset polymer that reaches its degradation point before the melting point, leading to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Annually, 540 tons of XLPE end up on landfill sites from electrical cables in a single state, such as Arizona. Therefore, this research aims to investigate a sustainable manufacturing method to recycle XLPE. The method disperses XLPE into rigid polyurethane foam (RPUF) after several processing steps to the XLPE waste. The investigation includes testing and analyzing thermal, mechanical, and structural characterization to design sustainable methods to recycle thermoset material generally and XLPE specifically.