Reuse of polymer materials and carbon fibres in novel engineering composite materials

The present work was devoted to the development of a technique for manufacture of a novel engineering material from carbon fibres and thermoplastic matrix recyclates. Fibre preforms were manufactured employing a papermaking technique for dispersing the carbon fibres. The polypropylene (PP) matrix recyclate was reprocessed into a film. The carbon fibre preforms and PP films were stacked and composite materials were subsequently manufactured by press forming. The mechanical behaviour of carbon fibre preforms was characterised by a compaction test and compared to the results obtained by consolidation test of the carbon fibres reinforced PP composites. The consolidation experiments were found to follow the trend from compaction tests allowing prediction of the amount of polymer material needed, fibre volume fraction as well as composites thickness. The resulting dispersion of fibres and void content were evaluated by microscopy.