Preparation and characterization of carbon fiber/polypropylene composites via a tri-screw in-line compounding and injection molding

Ductile to Brittle Transition of Short Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

In this work, the ductile to brittle transition behavior of short carbon fiber (SCF)-reinforced polypropylene (PP) composite is studied. Initially, the SCF-reinforced PP composites with a varying composition of SCF in the range of 0–40 wt% loading were first melt-mixed in a twin-screw extruder and later injection-molded to produce the testing samples. The experimental results indicate that with an increase in SCF loading, an increase in the tensile modulus and strength was observed along with a rapid decrease in the values of strain at break. A sudden decrease in strain at break was observed in composites in the range of 10–15 wt% SCF. To further study the sudden decrease in strain at break, an investigation was performed on composites that contained 10–15 wt% of SCF loading, starting from 10 wt% with a 1% increment to 15 wt% of SCF. The results of this study show that a decrease in strain at break was not linear; on the contrary, it was accompanied by a ductile to brittle transition, which specifically occurred in the range of 12–13 wt% of SCF loading and then continued to decrease with an increase in SCF loading.

Enhancing Mixing and Thermal Management of Recycled Carbon Composite Systems by Torsion-Induced Phase-to-Phase Thermal and Molecular Mobility

A novel torsion screw has been proposed to resolve the inadequate control of mass transfer and the thermal management of two component polymer blends and their carbon fiber composites. The novel torsional screw distinctly introduced radial flow in the torsion screw channel, which is a significant improvement over the flow pattern developed by the conventional screw. The heat transfer and mixing behavior of melt mixtures are enhanced by adapting screws with torsion elements compared with the traditional screw elements. Heat transfer efficacy in the polypropylene–polystyrene bi-phasic extrusion process improved with the increase in torsion element numbers. An increased number of newly designed torsional elements also improved the dispersion of minor phase in bi-phase polypropylene–polystyrene composition and their carbon fiber composites. The unique flow pattern induced by the torsion elements shows a synergistic effect on the melt-phase mass flow and the thermal flow field facilitating phase-to-phase thermal and molecular mobility and enhanced fiber orientation, crystallinity and mechanical properties of composite made from recycled carbon fiber/polypropylene. Microtomographs of recycled carbon fiber demonstrated the extraordinary ability of a torsion screw element to orient carbon fiber in both axial and radial directions.