ABSTRACT
We have investigated the recycling of the thermosetting plastic waste generated in the production of printed wiring boards (PWBs) and IC packages, which are the main plastic products in the electronic parts industry. A process for pulverizing mold residues of PWBs and separating the resulting powder into copper and the powder consisting of glassfiber and resin (glassfiber-resin powder) was developed. More than 90% of copper (maximum 94%) was recoverable from the PWB waste powder, which had an average grain size of 100-300 μ m. The recovered glassfiber-resin powder could be used to improve the strength and the thermal expansion properties of epoxy resin type paints and adhesives, and also proved useful as a filler for polymer mortars. The mold residues of molding resin for IC package was also succeeded in pulverizing into a powder, which was found to have a reactive surface nearly as good as that of silica powder and could be used as a general filler and most promisingly, as a decorating agent which has the added advantage of improving the surface hardness of resin type construction materials.
