Abstract
Recycling of thermoplastic composites may simultaneously result in coating the reinforcing fibers contained within a thermoplastic film. Such a coating is created when recycling is based on the solution/reprecipitation method as follows: The composites are exposed to a dissolution process, and consequently the polymer/fiber solution is filtrated, causing the reinforcing agent and the polymer matrix to be separated. The polymer content remaining on the fibers decreases when the washing conditions become more vigorous. The concept was applied to ionomer-based composites containing 15% w/w aramid fibers in a random in-plane orientation. The so-recycled aramid fibers, being coated with ionomer, were then incorporated in the same polymer matrix but of virgin quality. In this paper, results on the tensile performance of these second-generation composites are presented, revealing a considerable improvement in agreement with previous studies on glass-based thermoplastic composites.