Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., announced, in collaboration with Kumamoto University, the development of the world's first technology for separating metal film, which has been laminated onto plastic by a process such as plating, from the plastic, without the use of special chemicals, while preserving the properties of the plastic. Plating removal machinery using this technology will be produced and released during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006.
This technology physically separates the metal and plastic components by applying a shock wave and heat to the metal part through the air for an extremely short period, enabling the metal to be efficiently delaminated and removed, while at the same time enabling the plastic to also be recovered virtually undamaged. Because of this characteristic, both the metal and plastic materials can be easily recycled and, by remanufacturing them as new parts, recycling in line with the Matsushita objective of "products from products" becomes possible.
The two main features of this technology focuses on:
1. The technology can be applied to a broad range of types of metal and plastic, because a shock wave and heat, as seen with lightning, are generated with a plasma discharge, while this technology can control electrical conditions for discharging.
2. The metal can be recovered efficiently and at low cost, with the least possible impact on the environment, because delamination is carried out by a method using an instantaneous electric charge, rather than a large amount of chemicals.
Using this technology, the recycling of plastic which has been plated with metal becomes possible, and the plastic used in the casings of home appliances becomes available for material recycling. In addition, this technology can be applied not only to home appliances, but also in automobiles, recreational facilities, etc.
Nearly all plastic which has undergone metal plating, such as plastic used in the casings of home appliances, electric circuit boards, etc., is disposed of, rather than recycled. As techniques to delaminate metal plating from plastic, methods to dissolve the plating with acid-alkali, or grind the metal down and then separate the plastic and metal with a dielectric discharge have been developed, but are not widely used.