Assessing models for the prediction of mechanical properties for the recycled short fibre composites

Processing of polymer fibre composites has a remarkable influence on their mechanical performance. These mechanical properties are even more influenced when using recycled reinforcement. Therefore, we place particular attention on the evaluation of micromechanical models to estimate the mechanical properties and compare them against the experimental results of the manufactured composites from recycled carbon fibre material. For the manufacturing process, an epoxy matrix and carbon fibre production cut-offs as reinforcing material are incorporated using a vacuum infusion process. In addition, continuous textile reinforcement in combination with the epoxy matrix is used as reference material to evaluate the degradation of mechanical performance of the recycled composite. The experimental results show higher degradation of the composite strength compared to the stiffness properties. Observations from the modelling also show the same trend as the deviation between the theoretical and experimental results is lower for stiffness comparisons than the strength calculations. Yet still, good mechanical performance for specific applications can be expected from these materials.