Title : Chemically degradable thermoset matrix for recycling structural polymer composites
Abstract:
Fiber-reinforced thermoset composites have been considered as one of the promising lightweight materials for structural parts. Recently, automotive and wind turbine industry have set up a mass production system of the composite parts. One of the remarkable issues with regard to the applications is how to recycle the composites, especially with thermoset matrix. For a long time, many researchers have reported the recycling methods such as mechanical chopping, pyrolysis, chemical dissolution process and etc. However, they have some limitations on dealing with the composites in large quantities by an eco-friendly method. Therefore, there is a demand for developing a thermoset matrix resin which can be easily decomposed by a water-based solution as well as have comparable mechanical properties and chemical resistances. In this work, we estimate a new epoxy resin exhibiting a chemically degradable and mechanically robust property. The commercially available resin system consists of general epoxy resins, degradable epoxy resins, additive and hardener. In particular, the hydrophilic additive is added in order to obtain a bi-continuous phase in which one phase can play a role as a water channel. Through the channel, the water-based decomposing solution can be efficiently penetrated inside the resin. In addition, the stability of the continuous phase structure can provide good mechanical properties. Tensile, flexural and thermal properties for the resin and corresponding composite were measured. The degradability was measured by weighing the mass loss of the resin after immersing it in an aqueous decomposing solution at 100? for 3 hours. Experimental results showed that the resin system could be decomposed up to nearly 100% at such conditions and had excellent mechanical properties. TEM images indicated that the bi-continuous phase structure was formed during the curing reaction. Effect of the chemical structure and loading content of the hydrophilic additive will be discussed.
Audience Takeaway:
- Degradation mechanism of the epoxy resin by using water-based decomposing solution.
- Mechanical and chemical properties of composites with the epoxy resin and the applicability for automotive structural parts and wind turbine blades.
- Source information for chemically degradable epoxy resin.
