From Grave to Cradle - Development of Weft Knitted Fabrics Based on Hybrid Yarns from Recycled Carbon Fibre Reclaimed by Solvolytic Process from of EOL-Components

Carbon fibre (CF) is widely used in CF reinforced plastic (CFRP) components. However, waste CF, CFRP and the end-of-life (EOL) CFRP structures will cause an even bigger problem in the next years because of strict environmental regulations. Currently, recycling is carried out almost entirely by the use of pyrolysis to regain CF as a valuable resource. This high temperature process is very energy consuming and the resulting fibres are brittle. Hence, not suitable for textile processing into yarns or fabrics. To enable a grave to cradle circle, a new approach based on a solvolytic recovery of CF and the subsequent spinning process to obtain a hybrid yarn suitable for weft knitting processing is the focus of the international research project IGF/CORNET 256EBR “3D-r-CFRP”.