Separating glued joints through cooling energy.

In order to separate glued joints, components are usually heated. Components’ surfaces have to be heated to up to 400° in order to soften the adhesive layer which happens when it reaches 150°. This puts the adjacent components at risk to become damaged.

Another approach includes integrating special adhesives as predetermined breaking point by e.g., heating the adhesives to a predetermined temperature. This, however, was not well-received among users as product safety could possibly be impaired.

Nowadays, most adhesives are polymer-based. When heated, the polymers soften which causes the glued joints to become unsteady. Cooling down the polymers makes them harder and at a certain temperature the bonding decreases rapidly. In order to separate the adhesives, however, the glued joints have to be cooled down to -60-70° which requires the surfaces to be cooled down even more. These required minus temperatures have not yet been reached by cooling systems which separate adhesives of components.

mycon’s invention “SplitMaster” was able to reach according minus temperatures quickly and without difficulty.

Separating glued joints by using cooling energy has substantial advantages. According to key findings of the universities of Paderborn and Hamm-Lippstadt, a longtime project has proven that adjacent components and adhesive layers do not get damaged by this new procedure. SplitMaster merely weighs 25 kg and is easily transportable. In most cases the separating procedure can be performed by one worker.

mycon has been developing the SplitMaster-procedure for separating components of almost any size. Thus, recycling measures can be performed more quickly and more homogeneously in the future.