Abstract
The composites industry generates considerable volumes of waste in a wide variety of forms, from the production of by-products to end-of-life parts. This paper focuses on the remanufacturing of dry fibre off-cuts, produced during the composite fabric weaving process, into highly aligned discontinuous fibre prepreg tapes with High Performance Discontinuous Fibre (HiPerDiF) technology. Unidirectional laminate specimens are prepared using various combinations of fibre lengths and tested in tension, obtaining a stiffness of 80 GPa, a strength of 800 MPa, and a failure strain of 1%. Several applications are envisaged for the produced tape: adhesive film, feedstock for filament winding, and tow for weaved fabrics. This work demonstrates the possibility to extract value from what is currently considered manufacturing waste.
Highlights
The management and utilisation of waste is of paramount importance in the current composite industry scenario, due to the wide variety and volume of both production waste, generated during manufacturing, and post-consumer waste, in the form of end-of-life parts and components
Chemical reclamation methods use reactive, solution-based processes to break down the matrix material
Solvolysis methods use less hazardous solvents and catalysts, but suitable reactivity is achieved by operating at higher temperatures (200–300 ◦C) to afford a suitable reactivity for a specific polymer [14]
Summary
The management and utilisation of waste is of paramount importance in the current composite industry scenario, due to the wide variety and volume of both production waste, generated during manufacturing, and post-consumer waste, in the form of end-of-life parts and components. Composite recycling generally comprises a two-step process: fibre reclamation (i.e., its recovery from the matrix), and remanufacturing into a valuable material [1,2,3].
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