I-Corps: Closed Composites

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of carbon fiber-reinforced, polymer recycling technology in the US marketplace. The lack of efficient recycling routes is a primary hurdle to the use of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers in automotive and other large-scale manufacturing applications. Such recycled fibers represent a new class of feedstock for composite manufacturers as their surface chemistry is unaffected by the recycling process and their native length and architecture is preserved, maximizing their physical properties and maintaining their performance. This technology may accelerate the acceptance of carbon fiber composites as a ‘green’ material by upcycling composite waste from the aerospace sector for use in automotive, sporting goods, and wind blade industries. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a novel technology to remanufacture carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites from post-consumer waste into carbon fiber sheets and resin raw materials recovered through a recycling process. The proposed technology incorporates a homogeneous chemical recycling reaction which utilizes oxygen as the terminal oxidant to oxidize key carbon-nitrogen bonds formed during the thermoset curing reaction of the polymer. As a result, woven carbon fiber sheets are recovered, still in their native architecture, with minimal damage to their surface chemistries. These recycled fiber weaves retain their physical properties and may enable myriad remanufacturing possibilities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.