Recycled Materials Lightweight and green: Carbon fibre reinforced compounds

Plastics manufacturer Epsan has introduced recycled carbon fiber reinforced compounds. The new products of Eplon+ grades are based on recycled carbon fibre materials.

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Carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic materials satisfy the high mechanical properties, lightweight, electrical and thermal conductivity and low expansion coefficient compound requirements. Even though global carbon fiber demand is increasing constantly, nearly 30 percent end up as production waste. This creates an opportunity for reuse of the carbon fiber materials.

Epsan found recycled carbon fiber as a suitable alternative to prime carbon fiber sources. The company developed recycled CF reinforced PA6 and PA66 products, which are promising almost the same density, mechanical properties and visual effects as virgin source.

When Eplon+ 66 R-CFR 30 is compared with our prime carbon fiber reinforced polyamide 66 compound, named Eplamid 66 CFR 30, its mechanical properties demonstrate that the test results range from 90 percent to 95 percent, implying that its performance is very close to the prime product.

Epsan’s R&I manager Ecem Yildirim says: “New recycled Carbon fiber reinforced Eplon+ grades provide improvements under different headings as green product and cost effectiveness. This is a great enhancement of life cycle assessment as well. Using recycled fiber reduces carbon fiber wastes, allowing a significant amount of CO₂ emissions reduction, while maintaining almost as high mechanical properties as prime products. Recycled Market is also growing in parallel with virgin CF, therefore it is a very good option to protect supply security. In addition to these advantages, recycled carbon fiber reinforced compounds have a cost advantage.”

Applications range from automotive parts to stable and ultra-lightweight components in consumer electronics.

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