Multilayer beverage containers as mechanical reinforcement of polyester resin

Tetra Pak multilayer containers are used to preserve food for long periods of time and at low cost. Unfortunately, only 30% of the packaging used is recycled, and is not reused in any application, making it highly polluting materials. For these reasons, in this work 1x1 mm particles were obtained from Tetra Pak containers, which were mixed in amounts of 1, 2, 3 and 10% by weight with unsaturated polyester resin (UPR). These composite materials were subjected to tensile, Charpy impact and water absorption tests. The results show that with the addition of Tetra Pak particles, improvements of 50% in deformation, 47% in elastic modulus, 44% in tensile strength and 36% in impact resistance were obtained. The maximum water absorption was 0.17%.