The yachting industry currently does not have a waste-management plan for end-of-life (EOL) sailcloth. The most advanced sails produced by the world's largest sailmaker, North Sails, are flexible carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites, and the aim of this project is to reclaim the highest-value components from North Sails' “3Di” range of sails, i.e. the carbon fibres, via two gasification-type processes. One process was conducted in a controlled air atmosphere (carried out by ELG Carbon Fibre (prior to 2022)), and the other in a controlled superheated steam (SHS) atmosphere, while undergoing pressure-swing cycles (carried out by Longworth). The successfully reclaimed carbon fibres were subsequently remanufactured into aligned discontinuous fibre reinforced composites (ADFRCs), using the High-Performance Discontinuous Fibre (HiPerDiF) manufacturing technology, invented at the University of Bristol, to lay out a possible waste-management route for EOL 3Di sails.
FROM SAIL TO STRUCTURE END-OF-LIFE SAILS AS A FEEDSTOCK FOR CIRCULAR MANUFACTURING
Longana M.;
2022-01-01
Abstract
The yachting industry currently does not have a waste-management plan for end-of-life (EOL) sailcloth. The most advanced sails produced by the world's largest sailmaker, North Sails, are flexible carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites, and the aim of this project is to reclaim the highest-value components from North Sails' “3Di” range of sails, i.e. the carbon fibres, via two gasification-type processes. One process was conducted in a controlled air atmosphere (carried out by ELG Carbon Fibre (prior to 2022)), and the other in a controlled superheated steam (SHS) atmosphere, while undergoing pressure-swing cycles (carried out by Longworth). The successfully reclaimed carbon fibres were subsequently remanufactured into aligned discontinuous fibre reinforced composites (ADFRCs), using the High-Performance Discontinuous Fibre (HiPerDiF) manufacturing technology, invented at the University of Bristol, to lay out a possible waste-management route for EOL 3Di sails.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
