Compressive and thermal properties of recycled EPS foams

Optimization of moulding process in order to maximize the recycled fraction in EPS products is a key industrial goal. To this end effects of quality and quantity of recycled EPS upon physical properties of products are studied. Results show, on the one hand, that the introduction of a recycled fraction brings to products with a reduced density. On the other hand, small modifications of the process parameters allow for a reduction in this density decrease. Furthermore, results show that mechanical and thermal behaviour of EPS depend only on the materials density apart from the possible presence of a recycled fraction.