COMPOSITE RECYCLING USING SUPERCRITICAL WATER: UTILIZATION OF RECOVERED MATERIALS

摘要

Supercritical fluid recycling continues to emerge as a viable method for recycling carbon fiberrnreinforced plastics (CFRPs). Previous work by this group has shown the successful use ofrnsupercritical water recycling to recover carbon fibers from high-performance single-layerrncomposites, as well as more industrially relevant multi-layered composites. Under supercriticalrnconditions, water possesses properties suitable for the efficient degradation of the polymerrnmatrix. In this study, aerospace qualified IM7/8552 (Hexcel) composites were fabricated andrnrecycled using supercritical water. Extremely high efficiency was achieved, with as much 99%rnof resin being removed from these 12-layer samples. The recovered fibers, which retained theirrnoriginal woven architecture, were directly used to fabricate reclaimed-fiber composites byrnvacuum assisted resin infusion. The reclaimed degradation product (RDP) was also combinedrnwith fresh resin and cured. The properties of the reclaimed-fiber composites and cured RDP/resinrnmixtures were measured and these revealed possible scenarios for the utilization of thesernmaterials.