A cost-effective chemical approach to retaining and regenerating the strength of thermally recycled glass fibre

Bashir, S. and Yang, L. and Anderson, R. and Basri, N. B. and Saez Rodriguez, E. and Liggat, J. J. and Thomason, J. (2016) A cost-effective chemical approach to retaining and regenerating the strength of thermally recycled glass fibre. In: The 17th European Conference on Composite Materials (ECCM17), 2016-06-26 - 2016-06-30, Internationales Congress Center München. (In Press)

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Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the efficacy of alkaline treatments on restoring mechanical strength of thermally damaged glass fibres for potential reuse as reinforcement material. Here, E-glass fibres were heat treated in a furnace at 450 °C for 25 minutes in order to simulate the harsh thermal conditions required for the recycling of glass fibre thermosetting composites. Following heat conditioning, fibres were treated with three different alkaline solutions: sodium hydroxide (NaOH), potassium hydroxide (KOH) and lithium hydroxide (LiOH). Results showed little effect of LiOH solution, however both NaOH and KOH were proved to be successful in regenerating strength of fibres heat treated at 450 °C. It is believed these alkaline treatments might improve fibre strength by etching away surface defects. Factors such as concentration of alkali and treatment time were investigated in order to find optimum conditions for strength regeneration.

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