LONDON -- The National Physical Laboratory, along with partners In2Tec Ltd. and Gwent Electronic Materials, reportedly have developed a printed circuit board whose components can be easily separated by immersion in hot water.

The work was part of the ReUSE project, funded by the UK government’s Technology Strategy Board. The partners demonstrate the ReUSE disassembly process in a video (link here).

The ReUSE (Reuseable, Unzippable, Sustainable Electronics) project aims to increase the recyclability of electronics assemblies. The partners designed, developed and tested a series of unzippable polymeric layers which, while withstanding prolonged thermal cycling and damp heat stressing, permit the assemblies to be easily separated at end-of-life into their constituent parts, after immersion in hot water. The project demonstrated a 90% recyclable inverter circuit for an electroluminescent lamp.