Optimization of Fiber Factors on Flexural Properties for Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene

Sustainable Composites from Waste Polypropylene Added with Thermoset Composite Waste or Recovered Carbon Fibres

In order to limit the ever-increasing consumption of new resources for material formulations, regulations and legislation require us to move from a linear to a circular economy and to find efficient ways to recycle, reuse and recover materials. Taking into account the principles of material circularity and waste reuse, this research study aims to produce thermoplastic composites using two types of industrial waste from neighbouring companies, namely waste polypropylene (wPP) from household production and carbon-fibre-reinforced epoxy composite scrap from a pultrusion company. The industrial scrap of the carbon-fibre-reinforced epoxy composites was either machined/ground to powder (pCFRC) and used directly as a reinforcement agent or subjected to a chemical digestion process to recover the carbon fibres (rCFs). Both pCFRC and rCF, at different weight ratios, were melt-blended with wPP. Prior to melt blending, both pCFRC and rCF were analysed for morphology by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The pCFRC powder contains epoxy resin fragments with spherical to ellipsoidal shape and carbon fibre fragments. The rCFs are clean from the matrix, but they are slightly thicker and corrugated after the matrix digestion. Further, the morphologies of wPP/pCFRC and wPP/rCF were also investigated by SEM, while the thermal behaviour, i.e., transitions and changes in crystallinity, and thermal resistance were evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. The strength of the interaction between the filler (i.e., pCFRC or rCF) and the wPP matrix and the processability of these composites were assessed by rheological studies. Finally, the mechanical properties of the systems were characterised by tensile tests, and as found, both pCFRC and rCF exert reinforcement effects, although better results were obtained using rCF. The wPP/pCFRC results are more heterogeneous than those of the wPP/rCF due to the presence of epoxy and carbon fibre fragments, and this heterogeneity could be considered responsible for the mechanical behaviour. Further, the presence of both pCFRC and rCF leads to a restriction of polymer chain mobility, which leads to an overall reduction in ductility. All the results obtained suggest that both pCFRC and rCF are good candidates as reinforcing fillers for wPP and that these complex systems could potentially be processed by injection or compression moulding.

Effect of Drilling Parameters and Tool Geometry on the Thrust Force and Surface Roughness of Aerospace Grade Laminate Composites

Carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRPs) have been specially developed to enhance the performance of commercial and military aircraft because of their strength, high stiffness-to-density ratios, and superior physical properties. On the other hand, fasteners and joints of CFRP materials may be weak due to occurring surface roughness and delamination problems during drilling operations. This study's aim is to investigate the drilling characterization of CFRPs with different drilling parameters and cutting tools. Drilling tests were performed with the Taguchi orthogonal array design (L18: 2^1 3^3). Tests were conducted with three levels of cutting speed (15, 30, 45 m/min), three levels of feed rate (0.05, 0.1, 0.2 mm/rev), two levels of drill diameter (3 and 5 mm), and three different types of drills (two twist drills with a point angle of 138° and 120° and one brad drill). Thrust forces were recorded during drilling tests, and afterwards surface roughness and hole delamination were measured. Obtained results were analyzed with Taguchi and two-way ANOVA. The general tendency was that low cutting speed, high feed rate, and small diameter drill caused an increase in thrust force. Surface roughness decreases with increasing tool diameter, decreasing feed, and cutting speed. Delamination factors of the samples dropped depending on decreasing thrust force levels. Remarkably, it is possible to control the delamination factor values via better surface quality. The brad drill and larger point angle have a negative effect on the drilling quality of CFRPs. According to all results, the cutting speed of 45 m/min and feed rate of 0.05 mm/rev using a type II drill having a 120° point angle and 5 mm diameter (12th trial) and the cutting speed of 30 m/min and feed rate of 0.05 mm/rev using a type II drill having a 120° point angle and 3 mm diameter (2nd trial) were determined as optimum drilling conditions.

Behavior of the Flexural Strength of Hemp/Polypropylene Composites: Evaluation of the Intrinsic Flexural Strength of Untreated Hemp Strands

The growing demand for plant fiber-reinforced composites offers new opportunities to compete against glass fiber (GF)-reinforced composites, but their performance must be assessed, revised, and improved as much as possible. This work reports on the production and the flexural strength of composites from polypropylene (PP) and hemp strands (20-50 wt.%), using maleic anhydride-grafted PP (MAPP) as a compatibilizer. A computational assessment of the reaction between cellulose and MAPP suggested the formation of only one ester bond per maleic anhydride unit as the most stable product. We determined the most favorable MAPP dosage to be 0.06 g per gram of fiber. The maximum enhancement in flexural strength that was attained with this proportion of MAPP was 148%, corresponding to the maximum fiber load. The modified rule of mixtures and the assumption of similar coupling factors for tensile and flexural strength allowed us to estimate the intrinsic flexural strength of hemp strands as 953 ± 116 MPa. While falling short of the values for sized GF (2415 MPa), the reinforcement efficiency parameter of the natural fibers (0.209) was found to be higher than that of GF (0.045).