Innovative manufacturing technique for glass matrix composites: extrusion of recycled TV set screen glass reinforced with Al2O3 platelets

An extrusion technique was developed as a novel method to fabricate glass matrix composites reinforced by 10 vol.% Al2O3 platelets. The glass used was a television (TV) set screen glass. Extrusion was carried out at 700 °C. The processing parameters studied and optimised were the geometry of the extrusion die, the heating time of the composite pellet prior to extrusion and the rate of extrusion. The microstructure of the composites was investigated, focussing on the arrangement and orientation of the reinforcement in the matrix, and on residual porosity. Hardness tests were carried out to assess the effect of platelet orientation. The hardness of the sample was found to depend on the microstructure of the sample. The region of the sample having an aligned microstructure showed a higher hardness in the longitudinal direction.