Abstract
A novel recycling solution for thermoplastic composites (TPCs) was recently implemented. The processing steps comprise shredding of TPC offcuts to flakes of a few centimetres, melting and blending of the flakes in a low-shear mixer, extrusion of a molten mixed dough and subsequent compression moulding in a press. This material and process are similar to the compression moulding of long-fibre thermoplastics (LFTs) that have been in the market for decades, such as glass mat thermoplastics (GMT) or direct-LFT. However, the input material in this recycling route consists of multi-layered woven flakes, which is very different from the pellets or chopped rovings of other LFTs. Process- and material-induced heterogeneities such as fibre orientation, percolation, variation of fibre fraction, or fibre attrition may be different for this new material. The development of this recycling technology and future industrial applications require more confidence in the material and process. The objective of this study is to characterise these heterogeneities for this recycling solution, and compare them to those generated in regular LFTs. It was found that the process- and material-induced heterogeneities of the recycled TPCs are similar to other LFTs, for the aspects listed here: fibre orientation, percolation, variation of fibre fraction and fibre attrition. In comparison to GMT, the effect of the mixing step is particularly noticeable on the local variation of fibre fraction within the panels. Industrial applications of this recycling route will benefit from this similarity, as it improves the confidence in the material and process combination.
Highlights
The use of continuous-fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites (TPCs) has increased in the past decades in various industrial sectors, with a large focus in aerospace.[1]
Several companies and research institutes involved in TPCs have developed recycling solutions specific to TPCs in recent years.[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]
Complete filling of the ribbed panels was found to be successful for an fibre volume fraction (FVF) below 26% for carbon/polyphenylene sulphide (C/PPS) and up to 35% for G/PP
Summary
The use of continuous-fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites (TPCs) has increased in the past decades in various industrial sectors, with a large focus in aerospace.[1] The ever-increasing TPC applications leads to increasing amounts of production scrap, generated during various manufacturing steps. The combination of economic value of the TPC scrap and legislative incentives is pushing the industry to reuse or recycle this material more and more.[2,3] As a consequence, several companies and research institutes involved in TPCs have developed recycling solutions specific to TPCs in recent years.[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12] In all of the implemented recycling routes, scrap material is first sorted and comminuted to the desired size, ranging from particles of a few millimetres to a few centimetres. The recycling solutions proceed with a remanufacturing step that turns the composite particles into an end- or semi-product
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