THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES | MATERIALS
Injection moulding industry partners are involved in projects exploring novel composites solutions, including the use of recycled carbon fibre sheet. By Mikell Knights
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
Exploring innovations in composite materials
The latest innovations in thermoplastic composites broaden the scope of materials being used or offer a more efficient approach to how the product is being made. New ideas include the production of thermoplastic composites from recycled composite materials. Another approach looks at overmould- ing a thermoplastic composite with a compatible thermoplastic. There are also two automotive related projects that look to leverage the light- weight, high strength characteristics of a composite thermoplastic to met growing environmental demands by replacing metal. One focus of further development in the
growing use of thermoplastic composites is the recycling of production waste such as thermoplas- tic sheet offcuts. Engel has been able to demon- strate that regranulates made from offcut residues can be processed in injection moulding for incorporation into new products while retaining their material properties. This makes it possible to keep the composite raw materials completely in the cycle for cost savings as well as sustainability. To demonstrate the feasibility of recycling thermoplastic composite production waste, Engel
www.injectionworld.com
partnered with Pure Loop, a division of Erema Group, to conduct a series of tests that investigate the processing of thermoplastic sheet offcuts and the downstream processing of the regranulate in a manner appropriate to the material.
Recycling challenges A specific challenge in recycling the continuous fibre-reinforced thermoplastic sheet preforms was to establish a method that ensures the retention of the greatest possible fibre lengths. For this pur- pose, the offcuts were shredded, and the fibre content reduced by adding unreinforced matrix material during the melting phase. This is because thermoplastic sheets typically have a fibre content of up to 72% weight, which would be too high for processing in injection moulding. In addition, maintaining uniform dispersion of
the fibre content in the matrix volume must be achieved so that the regranulate offers properties comparable to that of virgin long glass fibre pellets. At the same time, maintaining the length of the fibres as well as even distribution of the fibres will help the regranulate provide the high mechanical
January/February 2023 | INJECTION WORLD 15
Main image: Continuous carbon fibre reinforced plastics are being used in various projects
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