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from the what-happens-when-you-drink-and-drive dept.
The Netherlands could become the first country to pave its streets with plastic bottles after Rotterdam city council said it was considering piloting a new type of road surface touted by its creators as a greener alternative to asphalt.
The construction firm VolkerWessels unveiled plans on Friday for a surface made entirely from recycled plastic, which it said required less maintenance than asphalt and could withstand greater extremes of temperature– between -40C and 80C. Roads could be laid in a matter of weeks rather than months and last about three times as long, it claimed.
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The plastic roads are lighter, reducing the load on the ground, and hollow, making it easier to install cables and utility pipelines below the surface.Sections can be prefabricated in a factory and transported to where they are needed, reducing on-site construction, while the shorter construction time and low maintenance will mean less congestion caused by roadworks. Lighter materials can also be transported more efficiently.
Can plastic really last that long, exposed to loads and UV? I've had the plastic cases of electronics literally crumble to dust because they were sitting next to sunny windows...
Original Submission
(Score: 5, Informative) by dx3bydt3 on Saturday July 11 2015, @01:31PM
Can plastic really last that long, exposed to loads and UV?
It depends strongly on the type of plastic.
The electronics cases that crumbled were probably ABS, and probably contained a large proportion of a filler that make them cheaper to produce, but don't offer UV protection.
Carbon black, titaniuim dioxide and glass are often used as fillers as well, and these confer some UV resistance - the carbon especially.
The toughest plastics can easily last decades in direct exposure without protection or fillers, "plexiglas" (PMMA) for example is often used in direct oudoor exposure. Fluoropolymers like "teflon" (PTFE), ETFE, and PVDF could last indefinitely.
Polyethylene, used for shopping bags, is not a particularly tough plastic, but with a bit of protective additive, even a thin layer can last on greenhouses for 5 years or longer, even then it doesn't fall apart, it just becomes more susceptible to tearing and has lower light transmission.
The plastic mentioned in the summary is referring plastic bottles, these, at least the water and soft drink bottles are made with PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) which is more UV resistant than polyethylene, and a road is thick.
With a carbon filler, or similar, the UV wouldn't penetrate past the first fraction of a millimetre, so I would expect wear from tires, repetitive stress, and degradation from thermal cycling will be of greater concern than UV weathering.
(Score: 5, Funny) by jcross on Saturday July 11 2015, @04:19PM
Teflon coated roads for the win! They're immune to UV and last forever, plus any motorists or pedestrians who can't handle the low traction can be easily scraped off with very large plastic spatulas.