Carbon Fibers Recycling from Degraded Prepregs and Mechanical Properties or Recycled Composite

Abstract

The size of the global composites market is anticipated to grow more than previously. Due to the rapidly rising volume of CFRP production, the waste from this material poses numerous problems and has significantly increased the socio-technological pressure to find sustainable composite recycling solutions. The problem is that recycling the composite part is challenging once its service life has expired. The same problem is true for the raw materials (prepregs) used in composite manufacturing. When the prepreg out-life/shelf-life is over, prepregs are abandoned, resulting in a loss of millions of dollars and an adverse environmental effect. In this study, the prepreg matrix and fiber were separated by a chemical process using acetone as the primary solvent and other oxidants as a secondary treatment. The retrieved fibers were analyzed for surface morphologies and functional groups on the surface and compared with the fiber recovered using the pyrolysis process. Due to the loss of the sizing agent, plasma treatment has been performed to increase the wettability and adhesion between fiber and matrix. This recycled fiber is then used in manufacturing composite panels via the Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) process. The mechanical properties of the recovered fiber have been studied to ensure that it can be repurposed for other applications. The proposed method can be used to recover carbon fiber, and then the fiber can be used to reinforce the polymer matrix, reducing sociotechnical pressure while remaining cost-effective and environmentally friendly.