Technology for Obtaining Sintered Components with Tailored Electromagnetic Features by Selective Recycling of Printed Circuit Boards

The paper presents a technological approach for obtaining sintered components with tailored electromagnetic features from electromagnetically active powders through the selective recycling of electronic waste, in particular scrap electronic components. Printed circuit board (PCB) scraps were submitt...

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Main Authors: Romeo Cristian Ciobanu, Mihaela Aradoaei, Cristina Schreiner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-09-01
Series:Crystals
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/14/9/820
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author Romeo Cristian Ciobanu
Mihaela Aradoaei
Cristina Schreiner
author_facet Romeo Cristian Ciobanu
Mihaela Aradoaei
Cristina Schreiner
author_sort Romeo Cristian Ciobanu
collection DOAJ
description The paper presents a technological approach for obtaining sintered components with tailored electromagnetic features from electromagnetically active powders through the selective recycling of electronic waste, in particular scrap electronic components. Printed circuit board (PCB) scraps were submitted to a succession of grinding processes, followed by progressive magnetic and electrostatic separation, resulting two final fractions: metallic particles and non-metallic particles including different metallic oxides. Three types of powders were analyzed, i.e., powder after fine grinding, after magnetic separation and after electrostatic separation, which were further processed within a spark plasma sintering furnace in order to obtain solid disk samples. All samples contained several classes of oxides, and also residual metals, leading to specific thermal decomposition processes at different temperatures, depending on the nature of the oxides present in the studied materials. The chemical analysis of powders, via spectrometry with X-ray fluorescence—XRF, emphasized the presence of a mixture of metal oxides and traces of metals (mainly Ag), with concentrations diminishing along with the purification process. The most important analysis was related to dielectric parameters, and it was concluded that the powders obtained by the proposed technology could efficiently substitute scarce raw materials actually used as additives in composites, coatings and paints, mainly due to their high permittivity (above 6 in all frequency domains) and, respectively, dielectric loss factor (above 0.2 in all cases, in all frequency domains). We estimate that the technology described in this paper is a sustainable one according to the concept of circular economy, as it could reduce, by a minimum of 15%, the embodied GHG emissions generated from information and communications technology (ICT) devices by advanced recycling.
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spelling doaj-art-263b8804873e427ba7dc7b6ad44ea1ee2025-08-20T01:55:28ZengMDPI AGCrystals2073-43522024-09-0114982010.3390/cryst14090820Technology for Obtaining Sintered Components with Tailored Electromagnetic Features by Selective Recycling of Printed Circuit BoardsRomeo Cristian Ciobanu0Mihaela Aradoaei1Cristina Schreiner2Department of Electrical Measurements and Materials, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University, 700050 Iasi, RomaniaDepartment of Electrical Measurements and Materials, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University, 700050 Iasi, RomaniaDepartment of Electrical Measurements and Materials, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University, 700050 Iasi, RomaniaThe paper presents a technological approach for obtaining sintered components with tailored electromagnetic features from electromagnetically active powders through the selective recycling of electronic waste, in particular scrap electronic components. Printed circuit board (PCB) scraps were submitted to a succession of grinding processes, followed by progressive magnetic and electrostatic separation, resulting two final fractions: metallic particles and non-metallic particles including different metallic oxides. Three types of powders were analyzed, i.e., powder after fine grinding, after magnetic separation and after electrostatic separation, which were further processed within a spark plasma sintering furnace in order to obtain solid disk samples. All samples contained several classes of oxides, and also residual metals, leading to specific thermal decomposition processes at different temperatures, depending on the nature of the oxides present in the studied materials. The chemical analysis of powders, via spectrometry with X-ray fluorescence—XRF, emphasized the presence of a mixture of metal oxides and traces of metals (mainly Ag), with concentrations diminishing along with the purification process. The most important analysis was related to dielectric parameters, and it was concluded that the powders obtained by the proposed technology could efficiently substitute scarce raw materials actually used as additives in composites, coatings and paints, mainly due to their high permittivity (above 6 in all frequency domains) and, respectively, dielectric loss factor (above 0.2 in all cases, in all frequency domains). We estimate that the technology described in this paper is a sustainable one according to the concept of circular economy, as it could reduce, by a minimum of 15%, the embodied GHG emissions generated from information and communications technology (ICT) devices by advanced recycling.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/14/9/820selective recyclingelectronic wasteelectromagnetically active powderssintered components with tailored electromagnetic featurescircular economy
spellingShingle Romeo Cristian Ciobanu
Mihaela Aradoaei
Cristina Schreiner
Technology for Obtaining Sintered Components with Tailored Electromagnetic Features by Selective Recycling of Printed Circuit Boards
Crystals
selective recycling
electronic waste
electromagnetically active powders
sintered components with tailored electromagnetic features
circular economy
title Technology for Obtaining Sintered Components with Tailored Electromagnetic Features by Selective Recycling of Printed Circuit Boards
title_full Technology for Obtaining Sintered Components with Tailored Electromagnetic Features by Selective Recycling of Printed Circuit Boards
title_fullStr Technology for Obtaining Sintered Components with Tailored Electromagnetic Features by Selective Recycling of Printed Circuit Boards
title_full_unstemmed Technology for Obtaining Sintered Components with Tailored Electromagnetic Features by Selective Recycling of Printed Circuit Boards
title_short Technology for Obtaining Sintered Components with Tailored Electromagnetic Features by Selective Recycling of Printed Circuit Boards
title_sort technology for obtaining sintered components with tailored electromagnetic features by selective recycling of printed circuit boards
topic selective recycling
electronic waste
electromagnetically active powders
sintered components with tailored electromagnetic features
circular economy
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/14/9/820
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AT mihaelaaradoaei technologyforobtainingsinteredcomponentswithtailoredelectromagneticfeaturesbyselectiverecyclingofprintedcircuitboards
AT cristinaschreiner technologyforobtainingsinteredcomponentswithtailoredelectromagneticfeaturesbyselectiverecyclingofprintedcircuitboards