Recycled plastic bridge carries tanks

Recycled plastic bridge carries tanks

Axion International Holdings, Inc., a technology company in infrastructure markets including bridges, railways, and marine applications, completed construction of two, 100-percent recycled-plastic bridges for the U.S. Army. The bridges were designed to allow for the crossing of M-1 Abrams tanks.An M-1 Abrams tank, which weighs more than 70 tons, is too heavy to drive across most standard bridges and roadways. However, Axion's composite technology, developed in conjunction with scientists at Rutgers University, allowed the tank to make multiple crossings over a bridge made entirely from recycled consumer and industrial plastics. The event took place on June 11, 2009, as a crowd of approximately 30 engineers and military personnel watched at Fort Bragg, N.C. These new bridges were less expensive to build than the wood timber bridges they replaced and were engineered to carry the necessary 70-plus tons of military hardware.According to Axion, the new bridges at Fort Bragg are innovative structures because of the following attributes:
patented structural materials made from 100-percent recycled plastic;
patent pending I-beam design;
speed of installation; and
reduced cost to construct and maintain.
The bridge achieved excellent performance reviews with regard to both live and static loads, the company said, and withstood the impact of the M-1 tank braking on the bridge. Construction of the two thermoplastic composite bridges used more than 170,000 pounds of recycled plastic, the equivalent of more than 1.1 million 1-gallon milk jugs.