Recycling of Thermoplastic Glass Fiber-Reinforced Composites Using High-Voltage Fragmentation

Abstract

A rectangular polymer profile made of glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastic sheathing material and a polyethylene terephthalate foam core were to be separated for recycling. For this purpose, a mechanical recycling process utilizing a cutting mill and the high-voltage fragmentation (HVF) process were used and their achievements in composite separation were compared. For both separation methods, parameter variations resulted in a total of two test series each consisting of drying, screening, optional density separation, ashing, weighing, microscopic analyses, and glass fiber length measurements. Using HVF, a better separation of the core and sheath materials was achieved and longer glass fibers could be recovered.