Tensile Properties of Different Yarn Structures Based on Recycled Carbon Fibre for Sustainable Thermoset Composites

Abstract

The development of different hybrid yarn structures from recycled carbon fibre (rCF) (rCF content approx. 50% by weight) and thermoplastic fibres for thermoplastic composites has been reported earlier. However, manufacturing of yarns with high rCF content (>90%) required for thermoset composites is still not realizable due to high shortening (≥ 70%) in fibre length of rCF, which occurs during different processing steps of spinning. The reason lies in low shear strength, smooth fibre surface, small diameter and high brittleness of rCF. In addition to this, lack of crimp in rCF leads to drafting error during drawing and spinning process. Therefore, there is a high demand on rCF yarns for thermoset composites, as around 70% of composites are produced based on thermoset matrix. In this paper, yarns consisting of staple rCF with high rCF content (>90 weight%) are developed on DREF-friction spinning and wrap spinning technologies. For the production of yarns, slivers with different rCF content are produced using carding and drawing machine. The effect of different spinning parameters suction air pressure for DREF friction spun yarns and yarn twist for wrap spun yarns is investigated and their effect on tensile properties of yarn is analysed. The results show that the tensile properties of yarns can be adjusted to a wide range varying the yarn structure and spinning parameters.