Patent ID: 11970584
Assignee: IMPOSSIBLE OBJECTS, INC.
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC C  B | IPC B  C

Claim 0:
1. A process for making a 3D object from recycled materials comprising:
a. converting polymer material that has been used in an industrial process or consumer product into a recycled powder;
b. inserting said recycled powder into a powdering stage of a 3D printing process that deposits said powder onto substrate sheets to make a cross-sectional layer corresponding to a planar layer of a 3D object;, wherein the converting step comprises:, first, processing the polymer material into altered polymer comprising smaller particles than the polymer material originally comprised;, second, stifling or agitating the altered polymer in an immiscible liquid to obtain sufficient shear forces to result in further altered polymer suspended in the liquid;, third, mixing the further altered polymer with a matrix to form a polymer-matrix mixture, wherein the matrix has a lower melting point than the further altered polymer;, fourth, placing the polymer-matrix mixture in an extruder that is heated above a melting point temperature of the altered polymer and the matrix;, fifth, extruding the polymer-matrix mixture while it is above the melting point temperature of both the altered polymer and the matrix to form extrudate;, sixth, cooling the extrudate below the melting point temperature of both the altered polymer and the matrix;, seventh, in a mixing device, dissolving away the matrix with a liquid to obtain processed polymer, and, eight, drying the processed polymer.