Plastic Brick - ME459 Project Presentation (Dr. AlAwadhi)
Mechanical Engineering Department
Kuwait produces over 200 tons of plastic waste annually, which is often burned or buried, causing environmental damages. This project aims to convert plastic waste made of HDPE into practical, cost-effective flooring bricks by adding sand to the plastic to increase the mechanical properties of the bricks. It offers a sustainable solution to the environmental issues associated with plastic waste. The resulting bricks can be used in construction projects, providing a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional bricks or they could be used indoors. In order to design a mechanical device that achieves the stated purpose a set of design requirements and constraints are set. Then design components are arranged in morphological charts to aid in component selection. A series of steps are involved in making flooring bricks. Plastic is initially shredded and then blended with sand. Next, the plastic-sand mixture is fed into the hopper of a brick making machine, passing through a barrel equipped with a screw and band heaters. Ultimately, the melted plastic and sand mixture is molded into flooring bricks.
Supervisor: Dr. Abdulaziz Alawadhi
Semester: Spring 2024