Recovering of carbon fiber present in an industrial polymeric composite waste through pyrolysis method while studying the influence of resin impregnation process: Prepreg

Abstract

The present work aims to recover carbon fiber from industrial polymeric composite waste so as to determine the optimum process parameters of pyrolysis. It is also part of the scope of this study to evaluate the influence of the resin impregnation methods (Prepreg) on the recovered carbon fiber morphological properties. Thermal degradation behavior of the composites and of the virgin carbon fiber was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and pyrolysis was held under an inert atmosphere. The samples were heated up to isotherms of 300, 450 and 550 for 1 hour. To assess the morphological properties and chemical composition of the recovered carbon fiber surface, visual inspection was performed with scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), respectively, before and after the recovering process. Virgin carbon fiber was used as means of comparison to indicate that the recovered reinforcement material had its structural integrity maintained.