On recycled carbon fibre composites manufactured through a liquid composite moulding process

On recycled carbon fibre composites manufactured through a liquid composite moulding process

The recovery of carbon fibres from waste and end-of-life carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) materials is both economically lucrative and environmentally necessary. While various fibre reclamation routes have been developed and evaluated in literature, the further processing of the recycled carbon fibres into intermediate reinforcement products and re-impregnated composites require greater investigations. Here, we characterise the physical and mechanical properties of rCFRPs composed of random and oriented non-woven recycled carbon fibre mats that were impregnated with liquid epoxy matrices using a vacuum-infusion set-up. The low areal density and poor compactability of the non-woven mats implied that press-moulding upon impregnation was essential to control laminate thickness and improve fibre content; this may limit the applications of the resulting rCFRPs. Moreover, the press consolidation process is thought to degrade fibre length, and is a likely cause for the lower-than-expected tensile properties of the rCFRPs. Fibre volume fractions of 25-35% were achieved, with porosity content ranging between 3-10%. Expectedly, the oriented rCFRPs exhibited better tensile and compressive properties than the random rCFRPs. Notably, while the tensile strength of the rCFRPs was only up to 2.5 times better than the matrix, the tensile modulus was 4-10 times enhanced. Through a comparative literature survey, we found that the liquid composite moulded rCFRPs were outperformed by rCFRPs fabricated through other manufacturing processes (e.g. prepregging), particularly those employing high compaction pressures of up to 10 MPa, and those employing long carbon fibres recovered through pyrolysis and chemical processes, rather than the fluidised bed process.

Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions.