Reuse of CD and DVD Wastes as Reinforcement in Gypsum Plaster Plates.

The continuous and rapid evolution in the field of computing, and in particular in the field of storage devices, has led to the obsolescence of optical discs in favour of mass storage devices. In that sense, a large number of CDs and DVDs become obsolete each day in the world. In trying to create a recovery solution for those pieces, research in which polycarbonate (PC) waste from recycled discs have been used to develop new gypsum coating materials and products has been conducted. In a previous study, the physical and mechanical properties of new gypsum plasters, with PC waste as aggregate, were studied. Following that study, this article aims at creating new gypsum plaster false ceiling plates, using CD and DVD residues in different scenarios: as crushed aggregate in the gypsum matrix, as full reinforcement pieces of the plates and as a combination of both. The mechanical behaviour and the thermal conductivity of the new pieces have been analysed in this paper. The results showed an important improvement in the mechanical and thermal properties of the plates when the PC waste was used in many scenarios.