CompositesWorld
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The Composite Technology Center (CTC, Stade, Germany) has been working with Stade-based CFK Valley Recycling and CarboNXT GmbH (Wischhafen, Germany) toward the goal of developing recycled carbon fber (RCF) for aircraft applications. Specifcally, the collaborators want to demonstrate a full-scale passenger cabin interior sidewall panel (see photos at right). CTC researcher Tassilo Witte leads the team, and is currently characterizing not only RCF materials but also the composites made from them, performing a full battery of mechanical tests (tensile, compres- sive, fexural, etc.) on the flament, flament bundle, monolithic laminate, sandwich laminate and, fnally, small- and full-scale components. "This is the classic test pyramid approach used in aircraft," explains Witte, "because it characterizes a material so that engineers can then design with it." Key results, thus far, include fabri- cation of RCF/epoxy laminates that, for most load cases, surpass those made with virgin E-glass fbers. The efort is on track to build and test full- scale sidewalls by 2016. Witte is pursuing, in parallel, development of his recent patent that addresses recycling of continu- ous carbon and glass fbers from flament-wound pressure vessels. The potential impact for "greening" such composites is reportedly huge, given that there are an estimated 374,000 composite compressed natural gas (CNG) tanks produced annually for the global automotive industry alone, and, at a forecast compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.4%, that fgure is expected to reach 613,000 CNG tanks per year by 2019. Read more about RCF work at CTC online | short.compositesworld.com/RCFStruc AEROSPACE Recycling carbon fiber for structural applications Recycled and sorted RCF veil production RCF veil sandwich structure Fiber impregnation Characterization Processing Source (all images) / Keyrou North Coast Composites delivers the complete parts solution. For 35 years North Coast Tool & Mold has been an industry leader in the manufacture of molds for high performance composites. Y ISO9001-2000 AS9100B C o m p o s i t e s The Companies of North Coast North Coast Tool & Mold Corp. North Coast Composites, Inc. www.northcoastcomposites.com 216.398.8550 19 CompositesWorld.com NEWS N E W S N S N E W S E N W S W Carbon Fiber Recycling