Hi. I have recently had some success injection molding HDPE from used milk cartons. An office chair came by to be thrown in the trash and I wondered if it was possible to use the plastic. The base of the chair is made of a 5 spoked structure terminating in rolling casters. The plastic is black and hard, and marked with the triangle recycling code 7, which references to "other". I was thinking that it was ABS. ABS softens at the temperature of boiling water. This plastic DOES NOT. In fact, it takes quite a while with the heat gun to soften it even slightly. Putting it in a toaster oven at 400 F only slightly softens it, and it is by no means near molding temperature. The density test shows that it has a density slightly higher than water. It will float unless it is tapped to free any tiny air bubbles. This is consistent with ABS. This plastic will not coalesce under any reasonable heating with a heat gun. It will char with a bad surface texture first. Acetone will not attack this plastic. ABS cement will adhere, but poorly. The surface is not softened appreciably. The conclusion is that it is not ABS, but something similar. Maybe some kind of polyolefin? Web searches did not produce conclusive. I suspect that this plastic is not usable. Does anybody have any clues?
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What kind of plastic is in an office chair?
- Thread starter ericc
- Start date
That looks like it! I guess repurposing won't work unless I need a huge spider.
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