In my study, a thermal recycling process was used to recycle the carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) waste. As a result, the recovered carbon fibres appeared to be free from impurities (based on SEM analysis), but fluffy. Furthermore, to test its mechanical properties, initial efforts were made to re-manufacture the recycled fibre into a composite (110X110X10 mm) using epoxy as a matrix by compression moulding technique. (unidirectional fibres with length 10 cm compression moulded with epoxy; fibre content (i) 40% and (ii) 60%)
The resulted CFRP had a minor (some cases major) drawback in the epoxy thoroughly wetting the carbon fibres. In which some of the fibre bundles were untouched by the resin system. Overall, the resin system was unevenly distributed.
Does anyone have experience in such problems? Could you give me some suggestions?
-Thank you in advance!
Surface tension or wetting characteristics between recycled one with resin may be one of the aspects
Hello Sankar,
The main drawback with recycled carbon fibers (in your case it is fluffy) would be improper wetting, followed by non-uniform distribution of fabric (or fibers) leading to density fluctuation in different parts of the laminate.
My suggestion would be to try and knit the fibers into a bi-directional fabric pattern to ease wetting with epoxy and also to achieve uniform density to some extent.
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