Preparation of recycled graphite/expanded polystyrene by a facile solvent dissolution method.

In this paper, the waste graphite/expanded polystyrene was used as a raw material to prepare recycled graphite/expanded (rGEPS) foam board. A convenient and facile way to regenerate graphite/polystyrene beads was proposed in this work. This can be applied in the further industrial production. The solvent could be recycled, which made the process more efficient and economic. The rGEPS beads were analyzed by TGA, FTIR and XRD. The results indicated that the properties were not deteriorated. Then, the test results of rGEPS foam board, such as water absorption, apparent density, bending strength, compressive strength, thermal conductivity and oxygen index, showed that the properties have reached enterprise standards of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam board. The thermal conductivity was decreased by 13.16% compared with EPS foam board. Therefore, the prepared rGEPS foam board could be considered as a candidate of the thermal insulation materials in construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]