Abstract:
Plastic is one of the daily increasing useful as well as a hazardous material. At the time of need plastic is found to be very useful, but after its use, its simply thrown away, creating all kinds of hazards. Plastic is not bio degradable, so it will continue to be hazardous for more than centuries. The idea of this project is to find a use for this waste plastic scrap into something beautiful. The mixing of plastic with sand to create a new type of brick was put into thought. Since it is uneconomical to approach a local brick manufacturer for lending the machine, I designed and fabricated a brick manufacturing machine. The machine was designed so as to fulfil the need for manufacturing brick in small quantity. The plastic scrap used was leftover pieces of bottles, cans etc. So, the shredded plastic was heated in a metallic pan and heat was supplied from the charcoal stove. Into the molten plastic paste, sieved sand was added in suitable proportions. The paste contained noting more than sand and plastic. After thorough mixing, the paste was tilted into a rectangular mould with standard brick dimensions of 196mm*100mm*90mm and compressed to remove the internal pores. The paste took only 10 minutes to settle and harden. The brick was then ejected from the mould box after which it started cooling. It had a dark grey texture and increased weight by the initial analysis. The brick was subjected to compressive test and water absorption test. The results showed promise, that the Plastic Composite Brick was efficient than the third-class clay burnt brick and cement brick. The constructed brick making machine can produce on average a total of 75 bricks per day (8 hours). The cost of production of the machine was 1.17 million UGX only. Whereas, the most common industrial extruder and hydraulic press with an average capacity of about 1,500 bricks per day (Nivedita,2021) cost more than $100,000 (370,000,000). (Okwoko, 2020). Thus, this machine is relatively cheaper for small scale enterprises.
