Development of innovative prepregs based on recycled carbon-fiber mats

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) are composite materials that consist of a combination between carbon fibers and a polymer matrix, a combination that bring to materials with higher properties than the one of each component. Designers, engineers and architects have successfully used composites not only to replace steel, aluminium, wood and stone but also to develop entirely new applications which would not have been possible using traditional materials. Composites are used in a variety of fields, such as airplanes, cars, wind turbines, boats, houses, bridges, bats, snowboards, skis, bicycles, x-ray devices, etc CFRP have manly advantages even over metals such as a higher strength to weight ratios and better resistance to corrosion. On the other hand some of the properties that make CFRP such a great material also cause a problem once these materials reach the end of service life: they are difficult and expensive to recycle. Nowadays the automotive industry trend is to decrease the consumption of fuel and the solution is to produce vehicles more and more light. CFRP are the only materials that can allow a lightening without decreasing the mechanical performance. So in the next years the problem of recycling CFRP will become a daily issue. The majority of carbon composites waste is currently disposed in landfills or incinerated. This is possible due to the relatively low amount of production waste and the fact that most CFRP-parts produced so far are still in operation. Nowadays there are different technologies able to recover fibers from CFRP. It is important to keep in mind that recycling includes a second step, which is the reuse of the recovered fibers in composites. This second step is essential to close the loop for carbon fibers and their composites. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to provide good properties of the recycled fibers and a good compatibility to different matrices. The overall goal of this research is to improve a recycling technology and the development of a product with the recycled material in order to close the Life-cycle of the carbon fiber