The essence of this approach is the
use of mechanical stresses to selectively break cross-linking bonds, thereby returning a
previously cured visco-elastic material to a soluble state for recycling into existing or
new formulations, or for downcycling
into new applications.
This means a simple process:
requiring no additional chemical additives
for the breakdown
that can be tuned to meet the requirements of specific
formulations
for a wide range of cross-linking mechanisms.
The technology stems from work
carried out by Dr. William Watson and colleagues on the effects of mechanochemistry in the
1950's.
Further development in the 1980s
and 1990s has led to a simple process for the solubilisation of previously cross-linked
visco-elastic materials.
Experimentation and development over the last eight years has
shown that this process can be applied to a wide range of polymers at
industrial scales.
Currently a programme of work is in place to
extend this
approach further and to develop more applications for downcycled materials.
