August 2023

Conference Paper

Enabling Recycling of Composites: Understanding the Impacts of Multiple Thermal Processing Cycles

By:
Walker, Rebecca C; Webb, Christopher D; Bhagia, Samarthya ; Ozcan, Soydan ; Duty, Chad E; Kunc, Vlastimil ; Black, Nathan; Collier, Ally
Page Number:
1-10
Issue Number:
N/A
Book Title:
Proceedings of the SAMPE 2023 Conference & Exhibition
Publication Date:
August 29, 2023
Publisher Location:
SAMPE North America, California, United States of America
Conference Name:
SAMPE Conference and Exhibition
Conference Location:
Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Conference Sponsor:
SAMPE
View DOI Listing:
https://doi.org/10.33599/nasampe/s.23.0099

Abstract

When considering the utilization of recycled short carbon fiber feedstock materials for advanced manufacturing, understanding the material degradation behavior is essential in determining how many times a composite material can be effectively reprocessed and remanufactured. This study characterizes the degradation behavior of short carbon fiber acrylonitrile butadiene (CF-ABS) that has been reprocessed five times with twin screw extrusion. Parallel plate rheology was completed to observe the degradation in complex viscosity of the recycled feedstock materials. Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) was utilized to characterize the changes in molecular weight distribution of the recycled materials as a result of thermal and mechanical degradation during the re-processing steps. Rheological characterization, GPC, and twin-screw processing data help inform the process optimizations required to process the recycled feedstock material. Successful characterization of the degradation behavior of short fiber composite feedstock materials aids in increased understanding of the lifespan of high value carbon fiber composite materials and aids in process optimization of recycled composite materials.