Investigation on the Mechanical Recycling of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymers by Peripheral Down-Milling.

Carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRPs) are composite materials that play a significant role in the growth of many industrial fields where high performance and lightness of the structures are required. At the same time, the management at the end of their life has required the development of more and more sustainable and efficient recycling solutions. Considering this, the present research work aims to investigate a mechanical recycling method and the cutting strategies able to machine CFRP components in their entirety, using a common milling machine in a job shop scheme, making a shorter supply chain, and leading to economic and environmental benefits. In detail, laminates obtained by unidirectional carbon fiber prepregs were worked through the peripheral down-milling process, by varying the spindle speed and the feed rate. The recording of the cutting forces enabled the evaluation of features such as the cutting power and the specific cutting energy. Moreover, the chips from the milling process were classified as a function of their dimensions. Finally, specimens made of chips and epoxy resin were characterized under bending conditions, to evaluate the effectiveness of using the chips from CFRP peripheral milling as the polymer's reinforcement and, in addition, to appreciate the goodness of this recycling strategy.

Optimization of Single-Point Incremental Forming of Polymer Sheets through FEM.

Incremental sheet forming represents a relatively new process appointed to form sheets of pure metals, alloys, polymers, and composites for the manufacture of components in fields where customized production in a short time and at a low cost is required. Its most common variant, named single-point incremental forming, is a flexible process using very simple tooling; the sheet is clamped along the edges and a hemispherical-headed tool follows a required path, to deform the sheet locally. In so doing, better formability is reached without any dedicated dies and for low-forming forces, which represent some of the attractive features of this process. Nevertheless, and with special reference to thermoplastic sheets, incremental formed parts suffer from peculiar defects like twisting and wrinkling. In this numerical work, analyses were conducted through a commercial finite element code by varying the toolpath strategy of the incremental forming of polycarbonate sheets. The investigation of some features like the forming forces, the deformation states, the energy levels, and the forming time was carried out, to determine the toolpath strategy able to optimize the incremental forming process of polymer sheets. The results of the numerical analyses highlight a reduction of the forming forces when using toolpaths alternating diagonal up and vertical down steps and, presumably, a reduced risk of failures and defects. Furthermore, these toolpath strategies solutions also have a positive impact on the environment in terms of energy and do not significantly increase the manufacturing time.

A New Strategy to Produce Hemp Fibers through a Waterglass-Based Ecofriendly Process.

Natural fibers such as kenaf, hemp, flax, jute, and sisal have become the subject of much research as potential green or eco-friendly reinforcement composites, since they assure the reduction of weight, cost, and CO2 release with less reliance on oil sources. Herein, an inexpensive and eco-friendly waterglass treatment is proposed, allowing the production of silica-coated fibers that can be easily obtained in micro/nano fibrils through a low power mixer. The silica coating has been exploited to improve the chemical compatibility between fibers and the polymer matrix through the reaction of silanol groups with suitable coupling agents. In particular, silica-coated fibers easily functionalized with (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTS) were used as a filler in the manufacturing of epoxy-based composites. Morphological investigation of the composites through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) demonstrated that the filler has a tendency to produce a web-like structure, formed by continuously interconnected fibrils and microfibrils, from which particularly effective mechanical properties may be obtained. Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) shows that the functionalized fibers, in a concentration of 5 wt%, strongly affect the glass transformation temperature (10 °C increase) and the storage modulus of the pristine resin. Taking into account the large number of organosilicon compounds (in particular the alkoxide ones) available on the market, the new process appears to pave the way for the cleaner and cheaper production of biocomposites with different polymeric matrices and well-tailored interfaces.