Abstract
A route for the recovery and reuse of carbon fibres is presented with a summary of technological advances and areas requiring further development. Critical issues in size reduction of recyclate are presented along with results from a study considering comminution of a variety of time expired prepregs. High quality recovered carbon fibres have been incorporated in moulding compounds and preimpregnated composite materials. Fibre alignment is shown to be a critical factor in attaining high mechanical properties and high recovered fibre utilisation. A number of demonstrator materials have been developed and used to manufacture automotive parts which have shown excellent mechanical properties when compared with commercial glass fibre based moulding compounds.
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