Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 2

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) are materials that behave as plastics at a high temperature and rubbery atroom temperature. They combine the improved impact resistance and elasticity of an elastomer with thestrength of a thermoplastic. Such materials offer a short product cycle time in manufacturing. This is the sameas thermoplastics and do not require a time consuming vulcanization process. TPEs are mainly produced fromsynthetic materials. The goal of this applied research project is to develop a thermoplastic elastomer materialfrom post-consumer recycled plastics.The College team which consists of faculty researchers and research students will work closely with Entropex'sR&D team to develop a novel formulation and process for production of TPE material for high end applicationfrom a post-consumer recycled polymer source. Various formulations will be tested and a comprehensive set ofexperimental analysis will be used to analyze the data and optimize the product.Entropex is a leading company in post-consumer rigid plastics recycling and this project will improve the endvalue of their products significantly. Entropex is an Ontario based company and is 100% Canadian owned.Development and commercialization of a post-consumer recycled base thermoplastic elastomer for Entropexhas enormous potential for revenue increase and job creation.