Recovery of carbon fibre from waste prepreg via microwave pyrolysis

Management of waste from carbon fibre composites has become a significant societal issue as the application of composite grows across many industries. In this study, carbon fibres (CF) were successfully recovered from cured carbon fibre/epoxy (CF/EP) prepreg under microwave pyrolysis at 450, 550 and...

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Main Authors: Hao, Siqi, He, Lizhe, Liu, Jiaqi, Liu, Yuhao, Rudd, Chris, Liu, Xiaoling
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/65571/
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author Hao, Siqi
He, Lizhe
Liu, Jiaqi
Liu, Yuhao
Rudd, Chris
Liu, Xiaoling
author_facet Hao, Siqi
He, Lizhe
Liu, Jiaqi
Liu, Yuhao
Rudd, Chris
Liu, Xiaoling
author_sort Hao, Siqi
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Management of waste from carbon fibre composites has become a significant societal issue as the application of composite grows across many industries. In this study, carbon fibres (CF) were successfully recovered from cured carbon fibre/epoxy (CF/EP) prepreg under microwave pyrolysis at 450, 550 and 650◦ C followed by oxidation of any residual char. The recovered fibres were investigated for their tensile properties, surface morphologies and the elements/functional groups presented on the surface. The chemical compositions of gaseous and oil pyrolysis products were also analysed. The microwave pyrolysis effectively pyrolyzed the epoxy (EP) resin. Char residue remained on the fibre surface and the amount of char reduced as the pyrolysis temperature increased. Compared to virgin fibres, the recovered fibre suffered from a strength reduction by less than 20%, and this reduction could be mitigated by reducing the pyrolysis temperature. The surface of recovered fibre remained clean and smooth, while the profile of elements and functional groups at the surface were similar to those of virgin fibres. The main gaseous products were CO, H2, CO2 and CH4, whilst the liquid product stream included phenolic and aromatic compounds.
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spelling nottingham-655712021-06-04T02:39:45Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/65571/ Recovery of carbon fibre from waste prepreg via microwave pyrolysis Hao, Siqi He, Lizhe Liu, Jiaqi Liu, Yuhao Rudd, Chris Liu, Xiaoling Management of waste from carbon fibre composites has become a significant societal issue as the application of composite grows across many industries. In this study, carbon fibres (CF) were successfully recovered from cured carbon fibre/epoxy (CF/EP) prepreg under microwave pyrolysis at 450, 550 and 650◦ C followed by oxidation of any residual char. The recovered fibres were investigated for their tensile properties, surface morphologies and the elements/functional groups presented on the surface. The chemical compositions of gaseous and oil pyrolysis products were also analysed. The microwave pyrolysis effectively pyrolyzed the epoxy (EP) resin. Char residue remained on the fibre surface and the amount of char reduced as the pyrolysis temperature increased. Compared to virgin fibres, the recovered fibre suffered from a strength reduction by less than 20%, and this reduction could be mitigated by reducing the pyrolysis temperature. The surface of recovered fibre remained clean and smooth, while the profile of elements and functional groups at the surface were similar to those of virgin fibres. The main gaseous products were CO, H2, CO2 and CH4, whilst the liquid product stream included phenolic and aromatic compounds. MDPI AG 2021-04-10 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/65571/1/Recovery%20of%20carbon%20fibre%20from%20waste%20prepreg%20via%20microwave%20pyrolysis.pdf Hao, Siqi, He, Lizhe, Liu, Jiaqi, Liu, Yuhao, Rudd, Chris and Liu, Xiaoling (2021) Recovery of carbon fibre from waste prepreg via microwave pyrolysis. Polymers, 13 (8). p. 1231. ISSN 2073-4360 carbon fibre; recycling; microwave; pyrolysis http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym13081231 doi:10.3390/polym13081231 doi:10.3390/polym13081231
spellingShingle carbon fibre; recycling; microwave; pyrolysis
Hao, Siqi
He, Lizhe
Liu, Jiaqi
Liu, Yuhao
Rudd, Chris
Liu, Xiaoling
Recovery of carbon fibre from waste prepreg via microwave pyrolysis
title Recovery of carbon fibre from waste prepreg via microwave pyrolysis
title_full Recovery of carbon fibre from waste prepreg via microwave pyrolysis
title_fullStr Recovery of carbon fibre from waste prepreg via microwave pyrolysis
title_full_unstemmed Recovery of carbon fibre from waste prepreg via microwave pyrolysis
title_short Recovery of carbon fibre from waste prepreg via microwave pyrolysis
title_sort recovery of carbon fibre from waste prepreg via microwave pyrolysis
topic carbon fibre; recycling; microwave; pyrolysis
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/65571/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/65571/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/65571/