Recycling of fiber reinforced components into new structural components is an important goal to fulfil environmental and economic goals and to reduce the rising amount of waste from end-of-life products and production waste. To extract fibers from matrix, several techniques have been developed (e.g. pyrolysis, solvolysis), which all lead to a loss of fiber length (by cutting components into smaller parts) and a loss or reduction of the sizing. New products like rCF staple fiber yarn can afterwards be manufactured and further processed to new components with properties near to the properties of components made from new fibers. One product, which is already commercially available, is a rCF-roving from the Wagenfelder Spinnerei GmbH (Germany). This product stands out due to the fixation trough a binding yarn.

In this work the influence of the rCF matrix interphase on the mechanical properties and damage behavior is analyzed. Therefore, several mechanical tests (tensile, bending, compression) with different matrix systems (thermoplastic, thermoset, bio-based thermoset) are conducted, to investigate the influence of the modified and not known sizing on the mechanical performance of the rCF composite. Through in-situ X-Ray microscopy experiments, the behavior under load is visualized to show the structural differences of the matrix systems and to predict possible damage and failure behavior. To verify the results further investigations like scanning electron microscopy and acoustic emission tests are executed.