Project description
Closing the loop in the life cycle of carbon fibre reinforced plastics
With climate change posing an ever-increasing threat, countries worldwide are introducing initiatives to combat pollution and decrease the effects of climate change. These include measures to boost recycling of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRPs), a wasteful material. Even though they are made up of a large number of recyclable materials, CFRP products are difficult to breakdown or recycle. The EU-funded d-CFRPs project aims to change this by developing recycled/discontinuous CFRPs that can be recycled even when having undergone serious fatigue or fracture. The proposed novel solution aims to close the loop in the CFRP life cycle, which is vital for the sustainable use of carbon fibres.
Objective
This project aims to develop high-performance RECYCLED/discontinuous carbon fiber reinforced plastics (d-CFRPs) with tailored mechanical, fracture and fatigue properties using state-of-the-art nano-modification technology. Moreover, a significant side benefit of this research is a further development and validation of a fatigue test method for CFRPs towards standardization. The project involves: (1) formulate and characterize a series of epoxies modified by different nano-additives, i.e. rubber, silica, carbon nanotubes and graphene; (2) produce a series of d-CFPRs based on selected nano-modified epoxies and recycled carbon fibres; (3) characterize the mechanical properties, fracture toughness and fatigue resistance of the d-CFRPs; (4) investigate the fracture mechanisms and quantify the fracture features of d-CFRPs for both quasi-static and fatigue failure to build the correlation between fracture features and energy dissipation; (5) further develop and validate a fatigue test approach for CFRPs towards standardisation, together with other world-leading researchers from ESIS-TC4 (European Structural Integrity Society Technical Committee 4). Turning CFRP waste into a valuable resource and closing the loop in the CFRP life-cycle is vital for the sustainable use of carbon fibres. The research outcomes of this project (turning CFRP waste into high-performance d-CFRPs) will fit neatly with the big priority of Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018-2020 in ‘Increased investment in sustainable development and climate related R&I’, and the new ‘From Waste to Resource (VANG)’ programme developed by Dutch government. The successful development of high-performance d-CFRPs will facilitate the recycling of CFRP waste and promote the applications of recycled d-CFRPs, hence to make contributions to ‘From Waste to Resource’. Moreover, the contribution to the development of a reliable standard for fatigue test of CFRPs will significantly benefit the research and industrial communities.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringfibers
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialstwo-dimensional nanostructuresgraphene
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcompositescarbon fibers
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinator
2628 CN Delft
Netherlands