EPS or XPS? A review

Abstract

One of the most important keywords in our current economic life is the circular economy. This means that on all platform of life we need to intend making a product become a waste as late as possible. Instead of an end product, the goal is to return it to the economy as a basic of a new product. The aim is to extend the lifetime of a products. Instead of generating waste, a new chance has to be given by reusing it at the end of its lifetime. Based on this thought our research work was begun with the goal of producing reinforced EPS material, which has the physical and thermal properties at least as good as the XPS that is much more expensive to produce. For reinforcement, materials have been chosen that, in terms of its current life cycle, is considered an end product, i.e. waste. The first choice are plastic straws and cutleries that will be redraw from the market. It is essential for this research work to map the raw materials, i.e. EPS and XPS. The article collects the properties of the EPS and XPS and the related simulation methods that can be found in the literature.