Recyclability and Embodied Energy of Advanced Polymer Matrix Composites

EPR2023018

08/15/2023

Features
Authors Abstract
Content
Recycling of advanced composites made from carbon fibers in epoxy resins is essential for two primary reasons. First, the energy necessary to produce carbon fibers is very high and therefore reusing these fibers could greatly reduce the lifecycle energy of components which use them. Second, if the material is allowed to break down in the environment, it will contribute to the growing presence of microplastics and other synthetic pollutants.
Recyclability and Embodied Energy of Advanced Polymer Matrix Composites discusses current recycling and disposal methods—which typically do not aim for full circularity, but rather successive downcycling—and addresses the major challenge of aligning fibers into unidirectional tows of real value in high-performance composites.
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/EPR2023018
Pages
24
Citation
Muelaner, J., "Recyclability and Embodied Energy of Advanced Polymer Matrix Composites," SAE Research Report EPR2023018, 2023, https://doi.org/10.4271/EPR2023018.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Aug 15, 2023
Product Code
EPR2023018
Content Type
Research Report
Language
English