Published Paper Details:

The utilization of composite materials has been exponential over the years and especially the demand for carbon fibre reinforced polymer composite is increasing rapidly because of their high performance. However, the recycling aspects of these materials proves to be challenging. The aim of our project is to recycle the fibre reinforced polymer composite in a cost-efficient method and to effectively use the recovered fibre in other applications. The project plan is to recover the fibres from two recycling processes - Pyrolysis and Solvolysis, and to pulverize the recovered fibres into fine powder. This powder is to be used as a microfiller in glass fibre reinforced polymer composite to enhance the mechanical properties. The final conclusion is to identify the best recycling method based on the analysis of the mechanical properties. Based on Tensile and Flexural tests, it was found that both the composite laminates with carbon fibre powder microfiller showed better structural properties than GFRP with plain epoxy. However, the carbon powder recovered from solvolysis process showed the best mechanical properties.