Identification of plastic material composition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9164017-B2
Application number	US-201313766989-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2013
Priority date	Jun 25, 2012
Publication date	Oct 20, 2015
Grant date	Oct 20, 2015

Abstract

Identification of a material composition. The material composition is configured with a color additive that is embedded or otherwise not visible. The color additive identifies the specific material composition. A discrete section or sub-section of the material is deformed such that the embedded color additive is made visible in the optical spectrum, after which the discrete section or sub-section may be sorted for recycling.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method comprising:
applying a force to an area of a body, the body comprising a first material and a second material, the first material having a first property and the second material in communication with the first material and having a second property, the second property different from the first property, and the second property of the second material being non-visible in an optical spectrum in a first state of the body;
the force transforming the body to a second state, different from the first state, including making visible a characteristic of the second material reflecting at least one optical wavelength; and
identifying a composition of the first material based on the visible characteristic of the second material in the second state.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sorting the first material based on the identified composition.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first material is plastic.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second material is a color additive.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the visible characteristic of the second material in the second state includes a pigment associated with the color additive and different from a visible property associated with the first material.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the pigment is associated with an identifiable material.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying the visible characteristic of the second material with an optical scanner.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein application of the force to the body results in deformation of the body beyond an associated elastic deformation range.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication between the second material and the first material includes the second material layered underneath an exposed surface of the first material.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication between the second material and the first material includes the second material embedded in the first material.

11. A method comprising:
deforming a body beyond an associated deformation range, the body comprised of a first material having a first property and a second material having a second property, the deformation making visible the second material in an optical spectrum;
observing an optical wavelength indicated by a color indicator in response to deformation of the body; and
identifying a composition of the body based on the observed optical wavelength of the second material.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising sorting the body based on the identified composition.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Ackley Sean M
• Sassano Camillo

Classifications

• G01N21/251

  Colorimeters; Construction thereof · CPC title

• G01N3/068 Primary

  with optical indicating or recording means · CPC title