I-Corps: Closed Composites

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是在美国市场上开发碳纤维增强的聚合物回收技术。缺乏有效的回收途径是碳纤维增强聚合物在汽车和其他大规模制造应用中使用的主要障碍。这些回收纤维代表了复合材料制造商的一种新的原料类别，因为它们的表面化学不受回收过程的影响，其固有长度和结构保持不变，从而使其物理性能最大化并保持其性能。这项技术可以通过将航空航天部门的复合材料废料回收用于汽车、体育用品和风叶行业，从而加速碳纤维复合材料作为一种“绿色”材料的接受。这个i-Corps项目是基于一项新技术的开发，该技术将消费后的废物再制造碳纤维增强聚合物复合材料，制成碳纤维片和通过回收工艺回收的树脂原材料。该技术采用均相化学循环反应，利用氧气作为终端氧化剂，氧化聚合物在热固性固化反应中形成的关键碳-氮键。因此，编织碳纤维板材被回收，仍然保持其原有的结构，对其表面化学成分的损害最小。这些再生纤维织物保留了它们的物理性能，并可能实现无数的再制造可能性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.