Active Disassembly

Active Disassembly (AD) is a developing technology which is associated with the term Active Disassembly using Smart Materials (ADSM) Active Disassembly (AD) is a developing technology which is associated with the term Active Disassembly using Smart Materials (ADSM) Smart materials such as shape memory alloys (SMA) are now offering the possibility of allowing complex items to be disassembled easily and in a potentially cost-effective manner. Other smart materials employed by AD include, shape memory polymers (SMP), smart layers, sprays, engineering polymers etc. The development of this technology could make recycling of consumer products more common and thus serve to be environmentally friendly. Companies designing and manufacturing a range of consumer goods are becoming increasingly subject to legislative and other pressures requiring them to consider the 'End of Life' (EoL) implications of their products. The ELV (End of Life Vehicle) Directive in Europe, for example, states that the current reuse and recycling level of 75% (by weight) has to be raised to 85% by 2015. The WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive is aimed at the eradication of landfill as a means of disposing of hazardous materials such as arsenic in LEDs. Manufacturers are also required to build strategies for disassembly into the design of their products. In the past designing products such as cars rarely involved consideration of what would happen when they were scrapped, although some companies, such as BMW have been pro-active in this respect. Dr. Chiodo is the inventor of AD and ADSM technology. He focused his research on thermally triggered disassembly using shape memory materials. His work first started in recycling related design solutions since the late 1980s. In 1991, his MA thesis investigated Design for Disassembly providing incentive for a new automated approach to what was at the time, a cumbersome endeavour. He conducted experiments including crude force methods to highly tuned approaches such as temperature, electrical resistance, vibration, volume, explosive, chemical, induction and bio triggered disassembly techniques.