Development of value-added feedstocks and sustainable composite materials from reclaimed carbon fibres

Project summary

Composite materials, made by the combination of fibres and plastics, emerged a few decades ago and went under enormous development since then. Nowadays, most aerospace structures, Formula-1 cars, wind turbine blades and various sports goods are made of composites because they offer exceptional stiffness and strength together with light weight thanks to the high-tech super-strong carbon fibres in them. However, the waste stream from composite structures manufactured 20-30 years ago and that have reached the end of their design lifetime extends dramatically. To protect the environment and assure long-term sustainable growth of the global economy, we need to move towards a circular economy featuring full recycling of structural materials. Since thermoset matrix composites cannot be re-melted and formed into new components like metals, engineers are currently focusing on developing and scaling up industrial processes to reclaim valuable fibres from the composite waste stream. Our research programme aims to take the randomly oriented reclaimed fibres and increase their value by aligning them nearly parallel to each other into a preform. A number of approaches, including vibrations in special narrowing channels, traditional textile technologies and 3D printing filament extrusion, are proposed to achieve the desired fibrous structures. The aligned fibre preforms can be used as a feedstock to make new composites with a value similar to that of the original end-of-life material. The new fibre alignment technology can contribute to a cleaner, safer and sustainable industry by enabling the production of high-performance partially recycled composite products.

Project results

Project-related publications

1. 
   Szederkényi B., Kovács N.K., Czigány T.: Improving energy absorption in cellular 3D-Printed fiber–reinforced structures with radially reinforced composite shells. Composites Part B: Engineering, 301, 112513/1-112513/11 (2025) 10.1016/j.compositesb.2025.112513 IF=12.7 D1