Special Issue
  • Energy-Efficient Recovery of Carbon Fibers: Mechanical and Interfacial Property Analysis

  • Dongki Oh*, Jisu Jeong**, Munju Goh**†

  • * Research Infrastructure Utilization Center, FITI Testing & Research Institute, Korea
    ** Department of Chemical Engineering, Konkuk University, Korea

  • 에너지 효율적인 탄소섬유 재활용 공정 및 기계적·계면 특성 분석

  • 오동기* · 정지수** · 고문주**†

  • This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

In this study, a novel chemical recycling for carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) was developed using meta-chloroperoxybenzoic acid (mCPBA). Epoxy resin in CFRP was completely depolymerized by treating it with a 1.5 M mCPBA solution at 40℃ for 6 hours. The recovered carbon fiber (r-CF) retained 93.6% of the tensile strength (4.4 GPa) and 95% of the electrical conductivity (590 S/cm) compared to virgin carbon fiber (v-CF). Notably, the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of r-CF with epoxy and polyamide 6 (PA6) resins reached 88 MPa (26% improvement) and 80 MPa (17% improvement), respectively, indicating excellent interfacial bonding performance. In particular, this method was performed at a relatively low temperature compared to existing technologies, and showed high energy efficiency with an energy consumption of approximately 35 MJ/kg. These results suggest the potential applicability of this approach as an eco-friendly solution for the recovery of high-quality carbon fibers and the regeneration of composite materials.


본 연구에서는 meta-chloroperoxybenzoic acid (mCPBA)을 활용한 탄소섬유 강화 플라스틱 (CFRP)의 화학적 재활용 기술을 개발하였다. 1.5 M mCPBA 용액을 40℃에서 6시간 처리하여 에폭시 수지를 완전히 분해하였으며, 회수된 탄소섬유 (r-CF)는 버진 탄소섬유 (v-CF) 대비 인장강도 93.6% (4.4 GPa), 전기전도도 95% (590 S/cm)를 유지하였다. 특히, 에폭시 수지와 Polyamide 6 수지에서 r-CF의 계면전단강도 (IFSS)는 각각 88 MPa (26% 향상) 및 80 MPa (17% 향상)로 우수한 결합 성능을 보였다. 화학적 재활용 공정은 40℃ 저온에서 진행되며, 에너지 소비량이 약 35 MJ/kg으로 기존 기술 대비 높은 효율성을 입증하였다. 이는 고품질 탄소섬유 회수와 복합재료 재생을 위한 친환경 솔루션으로의 적용 가능성을 제시한다.


Keywords: 화학적 재활용(Chemical recycling), 메타-클로로퍼옥시벤조산(meta-chloroperoxybenzoic acid), 계면전단강도(Interfacial shear strength), 저에너지 공정(Low energy processes)

This Article

Correspondence to

  • Munju Goh

  • Department of Chemical Engineering, Konkuk University, Korea

  • E-mail: mgoh@konkuk.ac.kr