Uday Kiran Balaga a graduate student with mechanical engineering along with CCM researchers have published their groundbreaking work in Recycling (MDPI) and presented it at the SPE ACCE 2025 conference.
The publication, titled “Optimization of the Recycling Process for Aligned Short Carbon Fiber TuFF Composites”, tackles a major challenge in sustainability: recovering high-value carbon fibers from thermoset prepreg scraps. This work demonstrates a viable path to reuse these materials in advanced manufacturing while retaining critical properties.
Key Highlights of the Research:
- Optimized Recycling: The team developed a two-step thermal process (pyrolysis followed by controlled oxidation) that effectively removes resin with minimal fiber degradation.
- High-Quality Recovery: The recycled carbon fibers maintained an impressive 75-80% of their strength compared to virgin fibers.
- Successful Integration: These recovered fibers were successfully integrated into TuFF (Tailored Universal Feedstock for Forming) preforms. The resulting composites achieved 44-50% strength translation and full modulus retention, proving that high-performance materials can be created from recycled waste.
This research offers a systematic framework for reclaiming and reintegrating carbon fibers into new materials. By pairing an optimized recycling method with the TuFF process, the team has shown a clear pathway for closed-loop reuse of aerospace-grade materials. This is a critical step toward a more sustainable future for composite manufacturing.
We congratulate the authors and researchers for their exceptional work and contribution to this important field!
You can read the full publication here,