Devleopment of a closed-loop recycling process for short carbon fibre composites: Matrix

In this study, the degradation effects of multiple closed-loop recycling processes evaluated for polypropylene. This is the first in a series of studies that aim to develop a fully recyclable composite material based on aligned discontinuous carbon fibre. Mechanical and material property fluctuations are analysed after three iterations. Molecular weight analysis indicates slight degradation in chain length; however, this is not reflected in material or mechanical performance. The limited variability of the tensile properties and the molecular weight distribution after multiple recycling iterations is insignificant and therefore promising for further development of the recyclable composite material by introducing fibres.