EAGER: Engineering a Low-Cost Polymer Composite Based on Recycled Carbon Fibers

碳纤维增强聚合物复合材料具有高强度重量比和无腐蚀的特点，这使得它们在航空航天和汽车工业中具有吸引力。回收报废产品中的碳纤维复合材料可以节省资源和能源，并带来各种好处，包括减少目前用于报废复合材料产品的垃圾填埋场的需求。这个早期概念探索研究奖助金(AGIRE)项目利用了一种回收碳纤维复合材料的新技术，在这种技术中，聚合物基质(包括其所有有毒副产品)被去除，碳纤维受到的损害最小(如果有的话)。将研究一种新型的基于再生碳纤维的聚合物复合材料。据估计，这种新型复合材料的成本仅为原始碳纤维复合材料的20%，并有望实现可接受的机械性能组合。这项研究将在新墨西哥大学进行，这是一所为少数族裔和拉美裔美国人服务的机构(MHSI)，将包括当地的工业合作伙伴Conherent Technologies Inc.，还将邀请西南印度理工学院(SIPI)的学生参与复合材料的回收、制造和测试。这项研究旨在研究开发一种新的低成本碳纤维增强复合材料所需的基本工艺，该复合材料由回收的碳纤维制成，具有明显的强度和延展性，但具有适合广泛应用的刚性。了解这些新型再生复合材料的加工-结构-力学性能关系是实现其潜力的关键。本研究将研究纤维-纤维相互作用、纤维长度和形态、纤维体积分数、纤维表面质量和反应性以及浆料与基质的相容性对这种新复合材料力学行为的影响。回收碳纤维可以制成一类新型的长纤维缠绕复合材料，因此既不同于传统的连续纤维复合材料，也不同于传统的短切纤维复合材料。这一独特的特征提供了一种机会，通过操纵纤维取向和长度以及改变纤维-基质界面来设计复合材料，以实现使用现有纤维无法实现的机械性能的组合。

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites have high strength-to-weight ratios and are corrosion free which make them attractive to the aerospace and automotive industries. Recycling carbon fiber composites from end-of-life products leads to resource and energy savings, with a variety of benefits including a reduction in the need for landfills currently used for end-of-life composite products. This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project capitalizes on a novel technology to recycle carbon fiber composites where the polymer matrix, including all its toxic byproducts, are removed, and minimal damage, if any, occurs to the carbon fibers. A new class of polymer composites based on recycled carbon fibers will be investigated. This novel composite is estimated to cost only 20 percent of the cost of virgin carbon fiber composites and is expected to achieve an acceptable combination of mechanical properties. The research will be conducted at University of New Mexico, which is a Minority and Hispanic-Serving Institution (MHSI), will include a local industrial partner, Adherent Technologies Inc., and will also engage students at the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) who will be participate in the composite recycling, fabrication, and testing. This research aims at investigating the fundamental processes required to develop a new class of low-cost carbon fiber reinforced composites, from recycled carbon fibers, with appreciable strength and ductility, yet with a stiffness suitable for a wide range of applications. Understanding the processing-structure-mechanical property relationships in these novel recycled composites is key to realizing their potential. This research will investigate the role of fiber-fiber interactions, fiber length and morphology, fiber volume fraction, fiber surface quality and reactivity, and sizing-matrix compatibility on the mechanical behavior of this new composite. The recycled carbon fibers can produce a new class of composites containing long, entangled fibers and are therefore different from both conventional continuous and chopped fiber composites. This unique feature provides an opportunity to engineer the composite by manipulating fiber orientation and length as well as altering the fiber-matrix interfaces to achieve a combination of mechanical properties not possible using current fibers.