Recycling of the polymer composite fillers in amino alcohol medium

Abstract

The paper presents data from an experimental study of the possibility of recycling polymer composites on the example of fiberglass and different thermoset binders. The goal is to remove the polymer matrix and obtain recovered fiberglass that is not inferior in properties to the virgin material. In this paper, considered the solvolysis method of the composite in the amino alcohols. As the medium used methyldiethanolamine and 3-aminopropanol-1. The dependence of the influence of the solvolysis time and the concentration of alkali metal hydroxide in the reaction medium on the strength of recovered glass fibers has been established. The solvolysis at a temperature of 180 °C and a catalyst concentration of 5 % for 6 hours was accepted as optimal regime. As a result of the research, a regime was obtained that allows recovering fibers with a tensile strength of 92 % of virgin fibers. The recovered fabrics were studied by thermal analysis and scanning electron microscopy. GFRP samples were obtained from the recovered fabrics by the VaRTM method. The flexural strength of composites made from secondary filler is 8.5% lower than the same material based on virgin fabric. Products of the polymer matrix degradation and fibrous fillers are released during recycling. These products could be used in chemical technology to produce, for example, binders components and secondary fillers for polymer composites.

Recycling of Epoxy/Fiberglass Composite Using Supercritical Ethanol with (2,3,5-Triphenyltetrazolium)2[CuCl4] Complex

“…The search and development of systems capable of operating efficiently at relatively low process parameters is an essential task. The use of catalysts is one of the most effective solutions to increase the efficiency of the process [ 8 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. There is evidence of the efficient use of alkali metal compounds as catalysts for the destruction of thermosetting matrices of polymer composites.…”

“…In this case, subcritical water as a solvent, 1-propanol as a co-solvent and KOH as a catalyst. NaOH is also used as a catalyst for the solvolysis of epoxy–vinylester matrix fiberglass reinforced in methyldiethanolamine and 3-aminopropanol [ 34 , 35 ]. A method is also known from [ 37 ], in which decomposition with nitric acid was employed to recover carbon fiber from carbon fiber reinforced plastic prepreg.…”