With timber not broadly out there and costs hovering to historic highs in the course of the coronavirus pandemic, a College of South Florida mechanical engineering scholar was growing a cheap various. Now funded by the Nationwide Science Basis, PhD scholar John Cotter is producing a recycled plastic constructing materials that may substitute structural lumber.

An ultra-strong recycled materials, Recycled Plastic Timber is made out of polymer-reinforced composites, a bolstered materials like concrete. The fabric shall be used instead of wooden to create fence posts that may final 30 to 50 years, about thrice longer than a wood fence.

Along with considerably decreasing future prices for patrons, Recycled Plastic Lumber will scale back the ten million acres of forest harvested every year in the US. Cotter estimates that the eco-friendly various will produce 15 million fence posts per 12 months.

The NSF grant will final till Might 2023. Cotter will spend this time refining and perfecting the fabric. He works with PhD scholar Tia Sayers and affiliate professor of mechanical engineering Rasim Guldiken to combine buyer suggestions into revisions. From there, it can provoke the product approval course of to deliver the product to market and get it into prospects’ palms.

With a earlier USF I-Corps grant, the group spent the spring time period interviewing owners, farmers, ranchers, and fence contractors throughout the nation. The information helped pinpoint market calls for.

Primarily based on preliminary buyer interviews, wooden fence posts usually final 10 to twenty years. In sure places topic to extreme climate, resembling Florida, prospects have reported issues 5 years after set up. The group discovered that wooden fence prospects mostly rot from moisture and extreme bending from warmth, which requires rework. Each points have an effect on the energy and sturdiness of fences.

Polymer, the lead materials in Recycled Plastic Lumber, is considerably much less affected by environmental components.

“The main focus is on making an environment friendly materials for the value based mostly on the ability provided,” Cotter mentioned. “The key behind the know-how is the reinforcement technique, not essentially the polymer itself.”

Cotter has developed a strengthening technique that can be utilized in extrusion processes the place plastic is heated, melted and compressed with a particular machine instrument. As an alternative of compacting to form, the reinforcement is fed from the instrument and coated with polymer.

Cotter plans to commit his future to discovering and manufacturing low-cost structural supplies. He acquired his first patent for Recycled Plastic Lumber in 2021 and has another patent pending. Each contain the usage of glass as a cheap structural materials, together with as a reinforcement for polymers utilized in fence posts.

Not solely is it planning to discover methods to increase the prevailing idea to extra wooden functions resembling decking, nevertheless it has additionally began to construct one other fence various based mostly on the wants and calls for acquired in the course of the preliminary buyer discovery – a bolstered and crammed concrete. recycled product that may be mounted equally to wooden.

Guldiken, who has been instructing mechanical engineering for the final 14 years, says that Cotter’s entrepreneurship stands out. Cotter’s forward-thinking mindset led to options to real-life issues and finally turned a bridge from academia to his future profession.

“What we do within the classroom and within the lab can have a big impact, even globally,” Guldiken mentioned. Mentioned. “The principle objective is to not earn cash, however to assist our residents.”

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