Abstract

This chapter addresses two relevant challenges to enforce in a manufacturing plant where carbon fiber prepreg is used as raw material for the manufacture of aeronautical parts. The first challenge is the segregation of fresh production waste, where the resin is fresh and has a big potential for being used as material for other applications. This chapter described a proposal for the collection of this highly valuable material in a pilot plant where aircraft stabilizers are manufactured. This second challenge addresses solutions for the reprocessing of waste material discarded during the manufacturing of carbon parts. Hereafter is described the preparation of new materials or by-products, which can be reincorporated into the production system of other composite material parts.

Abstract

The mechanical recycling of long-fiber reinforced composite materials is presented as an alternative of greater technological simplicity as well as low energy consumption, emission of pollutants and use of solvents, which places it in an advantageous position from the point of view of environmental sustainability. However, the products obtained are short-fibered, which reduces their mechanical reinforcement capability, and have been used mainly as fillers for cementitious, asphalt and thermoplastic matrices. The technologies used to reduce the size of the initial pieces substantially influence the characteristics of the final product obtained, especially important if they are to be used for functional purposes in terms of electrical or thermal properties. In addition, the fibers obtained have a proportion of resin from the initial composite material, so the subsequent treatment processes of these fibers, both physical and chemical, can affect the amount of final resin present in the product, its agglomeration or its surface characteristics. The current challenge for these products is to find processes that allow a better quality and greater uniformity of the final properties of the short fiber composites, so that the products obtained present a greater added value, which allows them to compete with other current discontinuous reinforcements.