The rise of short fibre reinforced plastics

Abstract

Currently, a lot of attention is focused on composite laminates made from continuous carbon fibre reinforced plastics. On the other hand, there is also renewed interest in using carbon fibre fragments for producing new reinforced plastic laminates partly because of advancement in technology for recovering the fibres (in fragmented forms) from the recycling of used plastic laminates. Additionally, short fibres also find applications in repair. For instance, damaged areas in reinforced-plastic laminates are replaced by a similar plastic reinforced by fibres, known as stepped/patch or scarf, specially tailored to the size of the damage site. What is the performance of short fibres derived from recycling? How do the size-tailored fibres enhance the mechanical integrity of the repaired laminates? Here, we take a fresh look at the basic concepts of short fibre reinforced plastics to make sense of these practical issues.