Diseño y construcción de una máquina para producir platos con material biodegradable para el Laboratorio de Materiales de la FICM-UTA

Abstract

From an environmental protection point of view, it makes sense to stop using singleuse containers made of polluting plastics and start using biodegradable and compostable products. Biodegradable and compostable tableware is much more environmentally friendly compared to disposable plastic tableware. A biodegradable material decomposes much faster than plastic, thus acting as a solution to a major issue today. Technical and technological know-how was provided to design and build a machine to produce dishes with biodegradable material. Research on biodegradable materials and how it can be transformed into a single-use container was carried out. Afterwards, the design was made considering several proposals of other examples and following design parameters, as well as standards related to the subject. The prototype was built and finally the tests were carried out with a proposed raw material, which is based on wheat bran. The biodegradable plates were manufactured by programming the prototype at a temperature in the matrices of 140 degrees Celsius, a pressure of 7 bars and within one minute a biodegradable plate of approximately 70 grams was obtained. Once the biodegradable plate was achieved, some tests were carried out to get an idea of its mechanical properties, especially its resistance to bending.