The use of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) components for lightweight constructions has been rapidly increasing over the past decade. On the other hand, the rising amount of waste per year leads to a priority to develop new recycling and reuse technics of carbon fiber. To reach ecological as well as economic goals, upcycling of end-of-life products and production waste in structural and loaded components has to be achieved [1].

Specific target of the project is the development of standardized and resource-efficient hybrid beech wood beams to substitute steel and concrete beams [Figure 1]. This target is striven by increasing stiffness and strength of the flanges of beech wood I-beams with lamellae made of recycled CFRP (rCFRP-lamellae). This generates a directed load transfer by the beam. Basis of this reinforcement are rovings made of rCF- staple fibers. Problematically in the manufacturing process is on the one hand the “slipping” risk of the staple fiber, and undulations in the rCF-roving because of the binding yarn on the other. Therefore, a manufacturing process (winding process) for unidirectional rCF-Rovings for optimal load absorption has to be developed. Through the winding procedure, a defined force can be adjusted and with that, the undulation of the roving could be equalized. For the matrix a bio-based resin system (ENVIREZ 70301 (40% bio amount) is used to amplify the ecological factor of the produced rCFRP-plate. [1,2]

The aim of this work is to create uni-directional (UD) reinforced plates with a high fiber volume content and to verify the versatility of a winding process for rCF-rovings. The winding process serves as preparatory work for the future use of a pultrusion process to manufacture large-size lamellae or endless material.

References:

[1] C. Goergen: “Quasi-plastic deformation behaviour of organic sheets made of recycled carbon staple fibers”. TU Kaiserslautern, 2020, PhD thesis.

[2] H. Schürmann: “Designing with Fiber Polymer Compounds”. Berlin Heidelberg, Springer Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-540-72189-5