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© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

This work is devoted to evaluating the effectiveness of the recovery of carbon fibers from end-of-life wind turbine blades in the pyrolysis process, and the use of those fibers in the production of flat composite panels. The recovery of carbon fibers from wind turbine blades uses a pyrolysis process at 500–600 °C in a non-oxidizing atmosphere, in such a way that makes it possible to preserve the shape and dimensions of the fibers. Using recycled carbon fibers, flat CFRP sheets with epoxy resin matrix were produced by pressing. Seven different series of samples were tested, which differed in fiber length, fiber orientation, and pressure holding time. The results obtained on the recycled fibers were compared to the original carbon fibers, cut to corresponding lengths. Additionally, one of the series was reinforced with a biaxial fabric. The most favorable pressing parameters are empirically found to be pre-pressing 2 MPa (10 min), and further pressing at a pressure of 7 MPa until the resin completely cross-linked (about 120 min). A number of tests were carried out to demonstrate the usefulness of pyrolytic fibers, including tensile strength of carbon fibers, bending strength, SEM observations, FT-IR, and Raman spectroscopy. The tests carried out on the carbon fibers show that the pyrolysis process used leaves about 2% of the matrix on the surface of the fiber, and the tensile strength of the fibers drops by about 20% compared to the new carbon fibers. The research results show that the use of the recycled carbon fibers in the production of flat composite plates is reliable, and their mechanical properties do not differ significantly from plates made of corresponding original carbon fibers. Composite panels with the pyrolytic fibers (274 MPa) show up to a 35% higher flexural strength than similarly produced panels with the original new carbon fibers (203 MPa), which means that the panels can be used in the production of elements for footbridges, bridges, pipelines, or structural elements of buildings and roofing.

Details

Title
The Use of Carbon Fibers Recovered by Pyrolysis from End-of-Life Wind Turbine Blades in Epoxy-Based Composite Panels
Author
Smoleń, Jakub 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Olesik, Piotr 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Jała, Jakub 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Adamcio, Andrzej 2 ; Kurtyka, Klaudia 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Godzierz, Marcin 3 ; Kozera, Rafał 4 ; Kozioł, Mateusz 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Boczkowska, Anna 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Faculty of Materials Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, Krasińskiego 8 Street, 40-019 Katowice, Poland; [email protected] (P.O.); [email protected] (J.J.); [email protected] (M.K.) 
 ANMET Company, Koszarowa 6/18 Street, 67-300 Szprotawa, Poland; [email protected] 
 Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, M. Curie-Skłodowskiej 34 Street, 41-819 Zabrze, Poland; [email protected] (K.K.); [email protected] (M.G.) 
 Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Wołoska 141 Street, 02-507 Warsaw, Poland; [email protected] (R.K.); [email protected] (A.B.) 
First page
2925
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20734360
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2694021572
Copyright
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.