Investigation on mechanical recycling of carbon fiber/vinyl ester composites

As we approach the twenty-first century, the aviation industry is seen to flourish due to flying being considered to be the preferred way of travel, whether being across states or countries. With such a demand, there is an equally parallel demand for the production of aircraft components. In this research, the focus of the study was on the recycling of carbon fiber composites obtained from STRATA company. This study utilized the cut-off/waste material produced during the manufacturing of aircraft components. The cut-offs were reduced to powder form using a conventional face milling machine in three different sizes (90, 150, 250µm). Four different wt% (10%, 20%, 30%, 40%) of the recycled powder was utilized to fabricate vinyl ester composites. Results show that the tensile strength of all composites increased upto 20 wt% of the reinforcement and then reduced drastically with further addition of reinforcement for all particle sizes.