AMRC And Prodrive Cooperate Deeply To Study Recycling Of Composite Materials

A few days ago, AMRC and Prodrive Composites of the University of Sheffield advanced manufacturing research center to cooperate with the company to promote the process of manufacturing recyclable composite components, extend the service life of composite components and reduce the cost of tooling.

It is understood that Prodrive Composites specializes in providing innovative engineering solutions for the automotive, aviation and marine industries. It also designs and produces advanced lightweight composites, widely used in automotive, racing, aerospace, marine, defense and other professional fields.

The company has been working with AMRC research engineers at the advanced manufacturing research center of University of Sheffield to study the recycling concept of P2T composites.

P2T can be used to make recyclable composite components, which can meet the service life requirements without affecting any performance of the original components.

While simplifying the recovery process, the composite component has longer service life.

Hannah Tu, head of the AMRC composites center, said that the way of production automation through composite materials recycling will enable them to achieve the goal of high production at a lower cost, pay attention to the recyclability of the materials used and increase the attractiveness of the technology to other industries.

Because P2T composites do not need heating or pressure in the process of manufacturing, they do not need autoclave. Therefore, the cost is reduced, and the scale of production can be expanded without a lot of investment.

The process uses reactive thermoplastic resin instead of thermosetting resin.

In the presence of fibers, the plastic monomers react with the catalyst to form a solidified laminate.

John Mkuliam, chief engineer of Prodrive Composites, said that in the field of composite materials, recycling after the end of material life is one of the biggest challenges.

This problem also puzzles car manufacturers and more other industries, such as shipping industry.

For example, old fiberglass ships are often dismantled and sent to landfills.

The main obstacle to recycling is the type of resin used, the thermosetting resin dominates, but these resins are not easy to recycle.

In collaboration with AMRC, the company has produced a series of large test plates through automated innovative processes.

Compared with the existing metal or composite solutions, the unique feature of the P2T process is to reduce the die cost and delivery time.

The advantages of composite materials produced by P2T process are that they can be recycled many times.

The highest mechanical properties are obtained when the original fiber is used for the first time, and is suitable for the use of high load structures.

At the end of the life of the components, fibers and potential resins can be recycled to provide most of the raw materials for minor parts, such as body panels.

When the second part reaches the end point of its service life, that is, the thermoplastic part, it can also be cut and reshaped into new parts suitable for three-dimensional solid parts.

The third level parts can be recycled several times to make low-level parts.