Recycling of Carbon Fibers from CFRP Waste by Microwave Thermolysis

Abstract

With the growth of the use of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) in various fields, the recovery of carbon fibers from CFRP waste is becoming a significant research direction. In the present work, degrading epoxy resin and recycling carbon fibers from CFRP waste by microwave thermolysis and traditional thermolysis were studied. The carbon fibers were successfully recovered by thermolysis under an oxygen atmosphere in this study. The properties of the recovered carbon fibers were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. The result shows that using microwave thermolysis to recover carbon fibers from CFRP waste is an attractive prospect. Compared to the traditional method, the reaction time was reduced by 56.67%, and the recovery ratio was increased by 15%. Microwave thermolysis is faster, more efficient, requires less energy, and obtains cleaner recovered carbon fibers than those recovered using traditional thermolysis.