Recycled carbon fiber has historically proven challenging to integrate into composite manufacturing due in no small part to the low-density, randomly oriented, discontinuous fiber format that results from typical recycling. Discontinuous fiber requires the use of alternative technologies than those traditionally applied to continuous fiber (e.g., hand lay-up, winding). Extrusion compounding is one such applicable technology, but material transfer into the system requires alternative feeding equipment or the use of an altered procedure as trialed in this research. In this study, an injection molding compound for automotive applications was prepared with recycled carbon fiber and compared against an existing commercial compound. Input fibers and molded compound were evaluated for mechanical performance, while relevant variables such as compounded fiber alignment and aspect ratio were compared to the existing baseline material to confirm a like-for-like composite material structure. Analysis indicates that recycled fiber performs similarly to virgin fiber reinforcement, demonstrating that recycled fiber may be a viable drop-in replacement for short-fiber discontinuous applications.

历史证明，回收碳纤维很难整合到复合材料制造中，这在很大程度上是由于典型回收所产生的低密度、随机取向、不连续的纤维形式。非连续纤维需要使用替代技术，而不是传统上应用于连续纤维的技术（例如，手糊、缠绕）。挤出复合是一种这样的适用技术，但将材料转移到系统中需要替代进料设备或使用本研究中试验的改变程序。在这项研究中，用回收的碳纤维制备了一种用于汽车应用的注塑成型化合物，并与现有的商业化合物进行了比较。评估输入纤维和模塑料的机械性能，同时将复合纤维排列和纵横比等相关变量与现有基线材料进行比较，以确认类似的复合材料结构。分析表明，再生纤维的性能与原生纤维增强相似，表明再生纤维可能是短纤维不连续应用的可行替代品。