Recycling of the polymer composite fillers in amino alcohol medium

Abstract

Abstract The paper presents data from an experimental study of the possibility of recycling polymer composites on the example of fiberglass and different thermoset binders. The goal is to remove the polymer matrix and obtain recovered fiberglass that is not inferior in properties to the virgin material. In this paper, considered the solvolysis method of the composite in the amino alcohols. As the medium used methyldiethanolamine and 3-aminopropanol-1. The dependence of the influence of the solvolysis time and the concentration of alkali metal hydroxide in the reaction medium on the strength of recovered glass fibers has been established. The solvolysis at a temperature of 180 °C and a catalyst concentration of 5 % for 6 hours was accepted as optimal regime. As a result of the research, a regime was obtained that allows recovering fibers with a tensile strength of 92 % of virgin fibers. The recovered fabrics were studied by thermal analysis and scanning electron microscopy. GFRP samples were obtained from the recovered fabrics by the VaRTM method. The flexural strength of composites made from secondary filler is 8.5% lower than the same material based on virgin fabric. Products of the polymer matrix degradation and fibrous fillers are released during recycling. These products could be used in chemical technology to produce, for example, binders components and secondary fillers for polymer composites.