Background
Plastic waste presents an acute environmental challenge to nearly all freshwater and marine ecosystems. The long degradation time of plastic requires effective methods of disposal to avoid adding additional plastic waste to aquatic environments. The end-of-life waste from wind turbine blades (WTBs) is also a pressing issue, as WTB waste often currently finds its way into landfills. Mechanical recycling of composite WTB presents a potential venue for the recovery of glass fibers for repurposing as fillers or reinforcements. The resulting composite materials exhibit improved properties compared to pure polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based fibers. However, one of the major challenges in preparing excellent composite fibers is achieving uniform dispersion of particles within the polymer matrix.
Invention Description
Researchers at Arizona State University have developed a novel method to produce coaxial-layered fibers from a combination of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and glass fibers (GF). This process enables the effective mechanical recycling of wind turbine blades (WTB) and other plastic materials to produce sustainable structural components. This method uses the dry-jet wet spinning technique, which gives precise control over the properties of the fiber. This enables the creation of consistent, high-quality fibers that can be scaled up for larger manufacturing applications.
Potential Applications:
- Plastic waste repurposing
- Sustainable wind turbine blade (WTB) recycling
- Production of sustainable structural components (e.g., electric vehicles)
Benefits and Advantages:
- Precise control over properties of the fiber
- Production of consistent, high-quality fibers
- Scalable manufacturing process
- Lightweight & excellent mechanical properties