NeuRecA

Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) play a key role in many industries with lightweight construction requirements. This applies primarily to aviation and automotive technology, but increasingly also to the leisure and sports sector. In addition to pure lightweight construction and the well-known economic challenges, ecological lightweight construction with the demands for sustainable solutions and recyclable materials has increasingly come into focus over the last few years. This goal can only be achieved by consistently pursuing a holistic circular economy for fiber-reinforced polymer materials (FRP) in general and for carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP) in particular. Therefore, in the „NeuRecA” joint project, targeted material development for reuse in new CFRPC applications is taking place both for carbon fiber production waste (off-cuts from CF textiles and residual coils) as well as for recycled and processed carbon fibers obtained from the pyrolysis of end-oflife (EoL) components. This can significantly reduce the environmental footprint of carbon fiber reinforced components and further increase the attractiveness of the material. Sheet Molding Compound (SMC) is used for the production and processing of semi-finished products, as it allows a high degree of design freedom combined with economical and efficient manufacturing processes. The combination of a newly developed resin paste formulation (based on a high-Tg epoxy resin) and carbon fiber staple yarns lead to the development of SMC semi-finished products, which can be used in structural areas that are subject to high thermal loads.

In the joint project “NeuRecA”, novel and innovative SMC formulations based on recycled carbon fibers and epoxy resins will be developed for the use in structural areas for high-temperature applications. This represents a first important milestone towards sustainable CFRP composites.