SHANGHAI–While consumers are becoming aware of the growing problems from electronic waste accumulating in landfills, chemists at Jiao Tong University may have developed a method that converts printed circuit board refuse into viable building material.
After valuable metals are recycled from PCBs, the debris, typically comprised of epoxy resin, glass fibers and metallic residue from laminate and plating, ends up in landfills. With the new process, chemists can turn the debris, or pulp, into a material suitable for a number of applications. First, the pulp is crushed and any residual metallic components are removed using an electrostatic separator. The fine powder is then mixed and kneaded with unsaturated polyester to form a dough-like substance that can be heated and pressed into shapes such as planks.
The recycled material has the properties consistent with construction materials, the scientists claim. “We tested the strength and hardness of our planks and showed that they have properties that are comparable with other building materials,” explains Zhenming Xu, leader of the research team. “We are confident that this material can be used for making products such as fences, sewer grates and park benches.”
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ANSYS Inc. introduces Icepak 12.0 software, providing robust and powerful fluid dynamics technology for electronics thermal management.
The latest version contains several advancements, including technology for meshing complex geometry and physical modeling capabilities.
The software quickens product development by accurately simulating dissipation of thermal energy in electronic devices at the component, board or system level. Users can improve design performance, reduce the need for a physical prototype and shorten time to market.
ANSYS Iceboard and Icechip capabilities are integrated into this latest version, and ECAD designs can be directly imported. Additional features include enhanced fan modeling, parallel processing, post-processing and expanded libraries.
In addition, a PCB trace Joule heating modeling capability, together with the import of DC power distribution profiles from Ansoft SIwaveT software enhances accurate PCB thermal simulation.
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