Efficient degradation of amine cured epoxy resin via the cleavage of C-N bond by amphiphilic dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid

Amine-cured epoxy resin (EP) is often compounded with carbon fiber (CF) used for wind power blades due to its excellent performance. However, the insolubility and infusibility of service-life-expired carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resin (CFREP) hinder its sustainable recycling. We reported a new strategy for efficient degradation of EP and CFREP with 0.5 mol% amphiphilic dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBSA) in aqueous system. It was found that the strong lipophilicity of DBSA accelerated its enrichment on EP surface, and further promoted the diffusion of DBSA and H2O to the resin bulk phase. As a result, the degradation ratio of the EP powder reached 100 % at 190 degrees C only in 10 h. The characterization of FT-IR and NMR proved that the degradation mechanism of EP was the selective cleavage of C-N bond catalyzed by H+. The resin degradation products (RDP) containing active hydrogen were used to prepare polyurethane (PU) with good mechanical properties. This method achieves complete recycling of waste CFREP in aqueous systems.