Dimensionamento de subsistemas técnicos para uma extrusora de polímeros

Abstract

Packaging and consumer goods plastics can take years to decompose. Studies indicate that plastic bottles, for example, take around 400 years to decompose. A significant portion of this waste ends up in regular landfills. Moreover, improper disposal hampers the processing, with a large portion being sent to sanitary landfills. Given the environmental concern surrounding the surge in plastic production and existing plastic recycling solutions, mechanical recycling emerges. This involves the extrusion process using crushed plastic as raw material, which can result in extruded filaments for 3D printing, plastic film extrusion for food packaging, and more. With this context in mind, the present thesis aims to dimension the technical subsystems of a polymer extruder as an enhancement to Guarienti's (2019) project. The latter revealed opportunities for improvements in subsystems, including the extruder screw, feeding system, extrusion tube, and other components comprising the extrusion assembly. To accomplish this project, the Product Development methodology was employed, involving the following phases: (i) Informative Design: establishment of system design specifications, (ii) Preliminary Design: final product layout determination, economic viability analysis, and (iii) Detailed Design: comprehensive project detailing, quality testing, and product functionality verification. The outcome comprises the essential technical components for a polymer extrusion machine. This encompassed market research, a detailed list of technical specifications, component detailing and sizing, culminating in the construction and subsequent testing of a prototype. A key feature of the final product is its production capacity, ranging from 2 to 6 kg/h. The prototype was implemented at a total cost of R$ 1,854.83 for its dimensioned subsystems.. The experimental testing phase played a pivotal role in defining the final product specifications, which fully meet the inherent expectations of this machine category. It was demonstrated that the prototype is capable of extruding various types of polymer filaments used in 3D printing, as long as they have a minimum diameter of 3.5 mm. Moreover, the project's cost showed to be more viable than that of available market machines.