Recycle of metal-plating on plastics by pulse arc discharge

Metal-plating on plastics has been used in household appliances, cars and others. Metal-plating and plastics have to be separated for recycling. The crush separation system is a high running cost. A melting separation system using an acid or an alkali causes deterioration of the performance of plastics. Therefore, a new method of separating metal-plating and plastics is expected. A method to separate metal-plating on plastics has been developed using pulse arc discharges by pulsed power [1]. A large current flow into a metal thin film, and then a part of the metal film is vaporized by heating. At the same time, a shock wave occurs and removes the metal thin film from the plastics. The plastics and the metal removed are recyclable. In this paper, the effects of ceramic tubes covered on electrodes, the kind of electrode material, the distance between electrodes and the diameter of electrodes on the removal efficiency are studied.