JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #119 - March 2018 - 51

MATERIALS: PUSHING BOUNDARIES
recycling

Applications of recycled carbon fibre
in high volume manufacturing

BEn andrEws,
Field Technical Services Engineer
ELG Carbon Fibre

Fig. 1: ELG recycled Carbon Fibres

In the aerospace sector
As one of the largest contributors to
ELG's feedstock, the aerospace industry
is continually looking for ways to save
weight, often with the use of carbon fibre.
Historically, the cost associated with high
grade virgin fibre prepregs was accepted
due to the fuel savings made through the
life of the aircraft. Furthermore, guaranteeing fibre alignment is essential to
a component's performance. Therefore,
large primary structures such as wings
and fuselages are not suited to a direct
replacement with rCFs. However, where
a component's structural functionality
can be matched, with only a minimal
change in design and mass, rCFs offer a
significant cost saving.
Components such as door surrounds,
seat backs and support brackets all fall
into this category. With new fire-retardant resin systems coming to the market
all the time, high volume pressing style
techniques can be utilised which, for
future demands of the next generation
single aisle aircraft, might be the only way
to meet demand.
In the industrial sector
The industrial sector covers rail, automotive and wind, all prime markets for rCF
products.

The rail market: Unlike aerospace,
the rail market is actively involved
in developing primary structures for
undercarriage applications using rCFs.
One such project aims to combine the
use of ELG's CARBISO ™ M nonwoven mat with local reinforcement of
unidirectional materials. The project,
for which the UK's RSSB has awarded
a grant of £1.25M, aims to both reduce
weight and optimise vertical and
transverse stiffness to decrease vehicle
operating costs, infrastructure damage
and environmental impact.
The automotive market: Widely
publicised sanctions on vehicle's
CO 2 emissions post 2020 are forcing
automotive OEMS to reconsider their
"pain threshold" for the cost per kilo
on lightweight materials. The reality of

Fig. 2: ELG Carbon Fibre Nonwoven mats

N°119 March 2018

/ jec composites magazine

Materials: pushing boundaries

he carbon fibre market is often
broken down into 3 major sectors; Aerospace, Industrial and
Consumer/Recreational. Within all of
them, high volume manufacture is either already in place, in development or
in demand. Recycled carbon fibre (rCF)
products can be swapped in directly for
virgin carbon/glass fibre products or, in
some cases, offer improved processing
capabilities. The following sections discuss potential avenues for rCF in these
3 major sectors.

Performance benefits of carbon fibre are well documented and have
long been clear to manufacturers. The potential value-added benefits
are slowly being realised and even implemented at an OEM level in
the automotive industry. Cost is the last major barrier to overcome to
see the use of carbon fibre become the norm in high volume manufacture. Recycling high grade fibres and converting them into affordable
products poses a viable solution to the cost issue. So where can these
products be implemented?

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #119 - March 2018