HYBRID COMPOSITES Effects of Mechanical Recycling on Carbon Fiber-based Hybrid Composites

Carbon fiber (CF) reinforced composites are high-performing, highly utilized material systems historically used in aerospace. As the cost of CF decreases, other industries, such as automotive and energy generation, seek tp adopt CF composites into their applications. A sudden increase in CF demand may create supply chain issues if the adbption happens without scaling up of the CF production. A solution for reducing the reliance on CF is to substitute some portion of the CF content with another fiber type without significantly reducing the material properties. When multiple reinforcing fillers are introduced into a composite system, the materials systermis often referred to as a hybrid composite and in this case a CF-based hybrid composite. To further relieve reliance on CF and with sustainable manufacturing becoming more prominent in industry, mechanical recycling can be employed to replace all or a percentage of the virgin material content. Utilizing recycled recycled content in place of virgin content will further aid in reducing the reliance on virgin CF and decrease overall material costs. Here the effects of utilizing mechanically recycled feedstocks on the mechanical properties of injection molded samples are explored to understand the feasibility of re-manufacturing recycled CF-based hybrid composites. By determining the mechanical properties and mechanisms in which the properties change through varying recycled content, the assessment of how the material will perform in other manufacturing processes can be inferred. As a result, industry will gain better insight into utilizing mechanically recycled feedstocks to reduce the reliance on the CF supply chain,