From aviation to aviation: Environmental and financial viability of closed-loop recycling of carbon fibre composite

Meng, Fanran; Cui, Yuanlong; Pickering, Steve; McKechnie, Jon

Abstract

© 2020 By 2050, the aviation sector is expected to generate about 500,000 tonnes of accumulated carbon fibre reinforced plastic waste from the production and end-of-life phase. In this study, aircraft interior applications of recycled carbon fibre (rCF) replacing virgin glass fibre are examined over the full life cycle in terms of environmental and financial viability. The viability of rCF for closed-loop aviation applications are demonstrated across rCF conversion (papermaking; fibre alignment) and composite manufacture (compression moulding; injection moulding)The results show that rCF composites, especially aligned rCF composites, give reasonable environmental (4–31%) and cost reductions (5–31%) relative to virgin glass fibre composites.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 23, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Aug 18, 2020
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Aug 18, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 19, 2021
• Journal: Composites Part B: Engineering
• Print ISSN: 1359-8368
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 200
• Article Number: 108362
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2020.108362
• Keywords: Mechanical Engineering; Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering; Mechanics of Materials; Ceramics and Composites
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4842095
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1359836820334119