Recycling thermoset composite waste from the aerospace industry

111 Pages·2015·15.1 MB·English

by  Andjelic, Stefan

UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À MONTRÉAL
RECYCLING THERMOSET COMPOSITE WASTE FROM THE AEROSPACE
INDUSTRY
THESIS
PRESENTED
AS PARTIAL REQUIREMENT
OF THE MASTERS OF CHEMISTRY
BY
STEFAN ANDJELIC
JUILLET 2014
UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À MONTRÉAL
Service des bibliothèques
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UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À MONTRÉAL
RECYCLAGE DE DÉCHETS COMPOSITES THERMODURCISSABLES DE
L'INDUSTRIE AÉRONAUTIQUE
MÉMOIRE
PRÉSENTÉ
COMME EXIGENCE PARTIELLE
DE LA MAÎTRISE EN CHIMIE
PAR
STEFAN ANDJELIC
JUILLET 2014

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My time as a graduate student at UQAM has been truly a great experience. 1 would
first and foremost like to thank my director Professor Steen B. Schougaard, who welcomed
me into his laboratory. My progression at the academie level could not have been possible
without his help, as he has given me enumerable opportunities for which 1 am very grateful.
1 learned a great deal during my internship at the National Research Council Canada
(NRC: Boucherville, Quebec, Canada), thanks in part to both Nathalie Legros and Karen
Stoeffler, who greatly contributed to this project, and were my co-sponsors during my stay at
the NRC. 1 would also like to thank Lolei Khoun for her help and advice.
This work has been supported by the Consortium for Research and Innovation in
Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ) (identified as CRIAQ ENV -411 project), as weil as, the
industrial partners Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Ltd. (BHTCL: Mirabel, Quebec, Canada)
and Bombardier Aerospace (Montreal, Quebec, Canada).
I would also like to thank Judith Roberge from BHTCL, who allowed me to publish a
paper in SAE International, and present my project at the SAE AeroTech Congress &
Exhibition.
Finally, I would like to thank my family, friends, and co-workers for their support.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... ix
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. vi
RÉSUMÉ ................................................................................................................................... x
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ xii
CHAPITRE I
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Context ............................................................................................................................ 1
1.2 Mec han ical Properties of Materials ................................................................................ 1
1.3 Composite Structural Materials ....................................................................................... 4
1.4 Res in Systems ................................................................................................................. 8
1.5 Carbon Fi bers ................................................................................................................ 10
1.6 Carbon fiber 1 Composite market.. ................................................................................ 13
1.7 The need to recycle ....................................................................................................... 14
1.8 Challenges ..................................................................................................................... 15
1.9 Recycling strategies ...................................................................................................... 15
1.9.1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 15
1.9 .2 Pyrolysis Processing ........................................................................................... 16
1.9.3 The Fluidized Bed Process ................................................................................. 19
1.9 .4 Catalytic Conversion ............................................. oo .. 21
0000 .. 000000 00 .... 000000 .. 00 .... 00 .......
1.9.5 The Supercritical Fluid Processoooo .................. oo .... oo .......... oo .. oo .................. oo ........ 22
1.9.6 Other Available Technologies .. oo .. oo .... oo .... oo ...... oo ............ oo .. oooooooo .......... oo .. oooooooooo24
1.10 Re-manufacturing Carbon Fib er Reinforced Thermoset Composites .............. 25
00 .. 00 .......
1.1 0.1O verview .. oo ...... oo .... oooooooooooo .......... oo .. oo ............................ oooooooooooo .......... oooooo .... oo ... 25
1.1 0.2 Fabricating Recycled Carbon fi ber Mats .. oo .................... oo ........ oo .... oo .................. 25
1.10.3Wet lay-up processing oo ........................ oo .. oo .......... oo .. oooooo ........ oo .. oo .... oo .......... oooo .. 26
IV
1.1 0.4Resin Transfer Molding ...................................................................................... 27
1.10 .5 Infusion Molding ................................................................................................ 28
1.1 0.6Sheet Molding Compound (SMC) ...................................................................... 29
1.11 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 30
CHAPITRE Il
EFFECT OF MORPHOLOGICAL, MECHANT CAL AND SURFACE PROPERTIES ON
THE WETTABILITY AND INTERFACIAL ADHESION OF RECYCLED CARBON
FIBERS ................................................................................................................................... 31
2.1 Abstract ......................................................................................................................... 32
2.2 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 33
2.3 Materials ....................................................................................................................... 34
2.3 .1 Carbon Fibers ...................................................................................................... 34
2.3.2 Resin ................................................................................................................... 35
2.4 Experimental ................................................................................................................. 35
2.4.1 Characterization of Carbon Fiber Morphology ................................................... 35
2.4.2 Characterization of Carbon Fiber Mechanical Properties ................................... 36
2.4.3 Characterization of Carbon Fi ber Surface Properties ......................................... 3 6
2.5 Results and Discussion .................................................................................................. 3 8
2.5.3 Characterization ofCarbon Fiber Surface Chemistry ........................................ .41
2.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 50
2.7 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... 51
2.8 References ..................................................................................................................... 51
CHAPITRE III
CARDED RECYCLED CARBON FIBER MATS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF
THERMOS ET COMPOSITES VIA INFUSION 1 COMPRESSION MOLDING ................. 54
3.1 Abstract ......................................................................................................................... 55
3.2 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 56
3 .3 Materials ....................................................................................................................... 57
3.3.1 Carbon Fibers ...................................................................................................... 57
3.3.2 Resin ................................................................................................................... 58
3.4 Experimental ................................................................................................................. 58
3.4.1 Characterization of the Carbon Fibers ................................................................ 58
3.4.2 Characterization ofthe carbon fibers 1 epoxy adhesion ...................................... 59
v
3 .4.3 Carbon fi bers 1 epoxy composite plates fabrication ............................................ 59
3.4.4 Characterization of the carbon fi bers 1 epoxy composite plates ......................... 60
3.5 Results & Discussion .................................................................................................... 62
3 .5.1 Characterization of the Carbon Fi bers ................................................................ 62
3.5 .2 Characterization of the carbon fi ber 1 epoxy adhesion ....................................... 64
3.5 .3 Characterization of the carbon fi ber reinforced epoxy composite plates ............ 66
3.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 71
3.7 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... 71
3. 8 References ..................................................................................................................... 71
CHAPITRE IV
CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................... 74
APPENDIX A
SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ 76
A.l Composite Waste Legislation ....................................................................................... 78
A.2 Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) Composites Reinforced with Recycled Carbon Fiber. ... 85
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................... 92
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1.1 Idealised Stress-Strain behavior of a ductile material under tension .................... 2
1.2 Typical stress-strain behavior for brittle and ductile materials ............................. 4
1.3 Typical stress -strain relationship for composite materials, and their
components, undergoing tensile testing ................................................................ 5
1.4 Externalloading on composite structural materials .............................................. 6
1.5 Density (g/cm3) of common structural materials .................................................. 6
1.6 Specifie tensile strength (MPa cm3 1 g) of common structural materials .............. 7
1.7 Specifie tensile modulus (GPa cm3 1 g) of common structural materials ............ 7
1.8 a) Chemical Structure of a Typical Epoxy (Diglycidyl Ether of Bisphenoi-A),
and b) Addition reaction of amine with epoxy groups ......................................... 9
1.9 Schematic representation of a cu red epoxy res in system (3-D structure) ............. 9
1.10 Unit cell of Graphite ........................................................................................... 10
1.11 Cross-section of PAN based Carbon Fibers ........................................................ 1 1
1.12 Structure of a PAN based carbon fi ber at different points during carbonization
and graphitization ............................................................................................... 12
1.13 Reynold and Sharp's mecanism for tensile failure of PAN based carbon fibers 13
1.14 Carbon fiber demand by year and industry ......................................................... 14
1.15 Recycling strategies for thermoset structural composite waste .......................... 16
1.16 A general process flow diagram for pyrolysis processing .................................. 17
1.17 A general process flow diagram for the fluidized bed process ........................... 19
1.18 A schematic of the fluidized bed reactor ............................................................ 20
1.19 A general process flow diagram for the catalytic conversion process ................ 22
VII
1.20 A general process flow diagram for the supercritical fluid process .................... 23
1.21 Wetlay Process for making recycled carbon fi ber mats ...................................... 26
1.22 Carding process for making recycled carbon fi bers mats ................................... 26
1.23 A schematic representation of the wet-lay process ............................................. 27
1.24 A schematic representation of Res in Transfer Molding (RTM) ......................... 28
1.25 A schematic representation of infusion mol ding ................................................ 29
1.26 Schematic representation of the SMC process .................................................... 29
1.27 Schematic Representation of Compression Molding .......................................... 30
2.1 SEM micrographs of the recycled carbon fibers from a) prepregs, b) tooling, and
virgin carbon fibers from c) Torayca® T700S .................................................... 39
2.2 Tensile modulus E (GPa) and maximum tensile strength CJmax (MPa) of the
carbon fi bers ....................................................................................................... 41
2.3 20 point N adsorption 1 desorption isotherms. Volume ( cm3/ g) versus relative
2
pressure P/P for the the recycled fi bers from a) prepreg and b) Tool ing .......... 43
0
2.4 Differentiai pore volume ( cm31 Â /g) versus pore widths (Â) for the recycled
fibers from a) prepregs, b) Tooling, and virgin fibers from c) Torayca® T700S
and d) Panex® 35 ................................................................................................ 44
2.5 XPS survey and high resolution C 1s spectra for the recycled carbon fi bers from
a) prepreg, b) tooling, and virgin carbon fibers from c) Torayca® T700S ........ .47
3.1 Schematic representation of the infusion 1 compression moulding process ....... 60
3.2 Geometry and position of the test specimens eut from the carbon fi bers 1 epoxy
plates ................................................................................................................... 61
3.3 SEM micrographs ofthe recycled carbon fibers from a) prepregs, b) tooling ... 63
3.4 Tensile modulus E (GPa) and maximum tensile strength CJmax (MPa) of the
recycled carbon fibers from prepregs and tooling, and virgin carbon fibers from
Toray T700SC .................................................................................................... 64
3.5 Force (N) versus Embedded Length (!lm) of the recycled carbon fibers from
prepregs for the microdroplet test. ...................................................................... 65
3.6 Variation of composite density along the injection direction for the carbon fibers
1 epoxy plates ...................................................................................................... 67