Composite Materials for Aerospace

Wood Waste-derived Thermoset Plastic Catalyzes its own Degradation Process.   Epoxy resin thermosets (ERTs) represent an important category of polymeric materials renowned for their robustness and exceptional thermal resilience. They play an essential role in various critical industrial sectors, including packaging, composite manufacturing, transportation, construction, and aviation.   However, their inherent strength comes with a drawback—they are extremely challenging to break down or recycle. Additionally, epoxy-amine resins, often incorporate bisphenol A (BPA), known as an endocrine disruptor.   A recent Science paper reports the synthesis and closed-loop recycling of a fully lignocellulose-derived epoxy resin (DGF/MBCA) is achieved through a process involving the dimethyl ester of 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (DMFD), 4,4′-methylenebis(cyclohexylamine) (MBCA), and glycidol.   This resin exhibits exceptional thermomechanical properties, including a glass transition temperature of 170°C and a storage modulus at 25°C of 1.2 gigapascals.   Notably, the material undergoes methanolysis without any catalyst, regenerating 90% of the original DMFD. The diamine MBCA and glycidol can then be reformed through acetolysis.   This work, coupled with promising commercial potential, represent a significant step towards incorporating thermosets into the circular and bio-based economy. #plasticpollution #bioplastics #sustainability Image credit: c&en, ACS

There is a cash cow of an opportunity for the companies that can figure out how to make new products out of repurposing wind turbine blades.  Challenges with repurposing the fiberglass blades have led to fields of retired blade graveyards and/or disposal in landfills.  According to NREL, an average of 5500 blades will be retired each year for the next 5 years in the US alone; that figure would increase between 10,000 and 20,000 until 2040. Can you say "Houston, we have a problem"?   Here are 3 US based companies that are figuring out solutions to reduce and repurpose this difficult material:   Carbon Rivers, Inc. This Tennessee-based company has developed a process to recover clean, mechanically intact glass fiber from decommissioned wind turbine blades. The recycled fiberglass is then upcycled into new composite materials, contributing to a circular wind turbine economy. Veolia North America: In partnership with GE Renewable Energy, Veolia processes decommissioned blades by shredding them and incorporating the fiberglass and resin into cement production. This method not only recycles the blade materials but also reduces CO₂ emissions in cement manufacturing by approximately 27%. REGEN Fiber Located in Fairfax, Iowa, Regen Fiber has established a facility capable of processing up to 30,000 tons of wind turbine blades annually. Their proprietary process recycles 100% of the blade materials into fibers and additives that enhance the durability and environmental resistance of concrete and asphalt.   In a country where the DOT loves to temporarily fill or resurface roadways with composites that can't withstand the wear/tear, I love the idea of resins being created that strengthen our building materials with repurposed materials from otherwise wasted products.    What other ways have you heard of these materials being re-purposed?

📣 RECYCLING AN END-OF-LIFE CURED COMPOSITE PART! 📣 Can a thermoset behave like a thermoplastic? That’s exactly what Mallinda, Inc is tackling. 🕵🏻♂️ Enter vitrimers: a new class of polymers that combine the best of both worlds. Highly crosslinked like thermosets, yet capable of being reshaped thanks to dynamic bond exchange when heated above Tg. 😮 The result? A fully cured composite that can be reprocessed, reshaped, and even recycled, without sacrificing performance. Their vitrimer prepreg enables ultra-fast compression molding and opens the door to true circularity in composites, with full resin and fiber recovery. 😎 In this video, they demonstrate the recycling of an end-of-life composite part, something that once seemed impossible. 🤯 #composites #composite #compósitos #compositematerials #materialsengineering #fibers #lightweight #reinforcedplastics

Recycling CF/PEKK laminates without cutting fibers: glass-transition delamination. This is one of the few recycling concepts that actually preserves what makes continuous-fiber polymers valuable. Thermoset composites can only be recycled through 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘅 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗹 such as pyrolysis or solvolysis, which recovers fibers but destroys the original polymer. Thermoplastic composites offer more options, but in practice recycling still means 𝘀𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲-𝗺𝗲𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, and shredding inevitably cuts fibers, destroying length and alignment and with it most of the mechanical value. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮: 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗧𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗱 PEKK has a 𝗴𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟭𝟲𝟬 °𝗖. If a CF/PEKK laminate is heated 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗴 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗲𝗹𝘁, the matrix becomes rubbery, interlaminar strength drops, and a wedge blade can 𝘀𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 instead of cutting fibers. In the reported tests, 𝟮 𝗺𝗺-𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗨𝗗 𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 were heated for 𝟱 𝗺𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝟮𝟲𝟬–𝟯𝟰𝟬 °𝗖 and delaminated using a simple 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 + 𝘄𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲. • At 𝟮𝟲𝟬 °𝗖, the matrix stayed too brittle and plies fractured. • Above melt at ~𝟯𝟰𝟬 °𝗖, fiber alignment collapsed. • The effective window was 𝟮𝟴𝟬–𝟯𝟮𝟬 °𝗖, where plies delaminated cleanly with fibers intact. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 “𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱” 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 The process recovered ~𝟬.𝟯𝟰 𝗺𝗺 𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 from a 𝟭𝟬-𝗽𝗹𝘆, 𝟮 𝗺𝗺 𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲, comparable to prepreg thickness. After reconsolidation, property retention was high: • 𝗙𝗹𝗲𝘅𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵: 𝟴𝟴.𝟲𝟵–𝟵𝟬.𝟰𝟵% at 280–320 °C • 𝗙𝗹𝗲𝘅𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗹𝘂𝘀: 𝟴𝟲.𝟳𝟮–𝟴𝟯.𝟳𝟯% • 𝗜𝗟𝗦𝗦: 𝟴𝟴.𝟭𝟭% at 280 °C Property retention tracks 𝗳𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, not chemistry. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄  The wedge does not cut fibers. It propagates a crack along softened interlaminar regions, driven by matrix tearing and interfacial debonding. SEM shows a clean initiation zone followed by controlled ply separation with minimal fiber damage. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀  This approach sits between two extremes in thermoplastic composite recycling: 𝘀𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 that preserves material but destroys structure and 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 like the A380-to-A320 thermoplastic repurposing. The focus here is on 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹. If you work with thermoplastic composites, I would be interested to hear where you see the main bottleneck today: heating control, inspection of recovered plies, or reconsolidation and joining back into certified structures.

Can (composite) waste become stronger than we imagine? In the latest episode of The Composites Catalyst (by Catalysium), Lourens Blok takes us inside Lineat Composites’ factory to show how they are turning recycled carbon fibre into high-performance aligned fibre tapes. What makes it unique? Lineat does not simply recycle carbon fibre. They realign chopped waste fibres into a new, highly aligned material architecture that mimics continuous fibre performance, while offering strong formability and a much lower environmental footprint. In other words: taking one of the strongest waste streams in the world and giving it a second life as a technical, scalable, and circular material. This is exactly the kind of innovation composites need: less landfill, more performance, more circularity, and a path toward industrial adoption. A big thank you to Lourens and the Lineat team for opening the doors and sharing the journey. Watch the full reportage on The Composites Catalyst. #Catalysium #Composites #CarbonFiber #Recycling #Circularity #AdvancedMaterials #Sustainability #TheCompositesCatalyst

New generation of recyclable composites for wind blades: In 2023, Mingyang launched wind turbine blade made from recyclable materials. Siemens Gamesa developed  wind turbines with RecyclableBlades. Other companies work on other recyclable materials for blades, notably, vitrimers. Indeed, these new materials are recyclable. But how to recycle them in optimal way, to get high quality recycled products - which solvents, which temperature regimes? In our new article “Solvolysis of novel recyclable composites for next-generation wind turbine blades”, Dr. Yi Chen developed an advanced computational model of chemical recycling (solvolysis and depolymerization) for the new generation of composites based on recyclable thermoset polymer matrix.  The model incorporates realistic composite microstructures, including microscale defects such as manufacturing-induced voids, to examine their impact on the end-of-life recycling process, and can be a basis for the optimization of recycling technology. This work is a continuation of our previous works, “Modeling the solvolysis of composite materials of wind turbine blades” (https://lnkd.in/eHWtJFqF), “Multifield computational model of chemical recycling of polymer composites” (https://lnkd.in/e4zuV9Ga) and “How to repair the next generation of wind turbine blades”, (https://lnkd.in/eGhaAHdt). The works were carried out in the framework of WiseWind project (“WiseWind: NeW generatIon of SustainablE Wind turbine Blades”, https://wisewind.dtu.dk/). Link: https://lnkd.in/eW2q339a

♻️ New Preprint Alert! ♻️ As global plastic waste levels continue to rise, the need for innovative chemical recycling strategies grows more urgent. In our latest study, we explore how catalytic pyrolysis can convert mixed plastic waste into valuable products, supporting the shift toward a circular economy. 🔬 We focus on a realistic feedstock—a mixture of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET)—commonly found in multilayer packaging, a notoriously difficult-to-recycle waste stream. 📌 Key contributions: Investigated catalyst:feedstock ratio, polymer composition, and heating rate effects using TGA. Developed a kinetic modeling framework to predict degradation behavior under varying conditions. Evaluated catalyst deactivation through shifts in thermal profiles and quantified acidity loss using pyridine and collidine adsorption. To our best knowledge, we provided the first kinetic and deactivation study on co-pyrolysis of PP and PET—a major step forward in understanding mixed plastic waste behavior during catalytic recycling. 📉 Our findings show that PET’s high coking tendency significantly accelerates catalyst deactivation, underscoring the need for tailored strategies in mixed waste pyrolysis. 🔗 Read the full preprint here: https://lnkd.in/eBcU_6Az We hope this work sparks discussion and collaboration in the field of sustainable plastic recycling and catalytic process engineering. #Catalysis #PlasticsRecycling #CircularEconomy #ChemicalEngineering #Kinetics #HZSM5 #Pyrolysis #Sustainability #PlasticWaste

♻️ Inside the Heart of E-Waste: A Story This Circuit Board Tells What you see here is more than just a discarded circuit board — it’s a compact mine of valuable resources. 🔍 What’s Inside? 👉 Copper coils (red rings) – used for inductors and transformers, vital for power regulation. 👉 Gold plating – ultra-thin layers on connectors for corrosion resistance and conductivity. 👉 Silver & palladium – in solder joints and contacts. 👉 Tantalum capacitors – containing the rare metal tantalum, critical in electronics. 👉 Aluminium & tin – in solder, heat sinks, and component casings. 👉 Fiberglass (FR4) – the board’s backbone, bound with epoxy resin. 👉 Semiconductors & ICs – containing silicon, gallium, and traces of rare earths. ♻️ Recycling Process: 1. Manual Dismantling – Remove heat sinks, coils, and large capacitors. 2. Component Recovery – Gold, silver, and palladium via chemical extraction or high-temperature smelting. 3. Copper Recycling – From coils, traces, and wiring. 4. Baseboard Processing – Shredding and separation to recover fiberglass and metals. 💡 Why It Matters: Every tonne of PCBs contains up to 800g of gold and kilos of copper & silver — yet millions of these end up in landfills. Recovering these not only saves resources but also prevents toxic leaching from lead, brominated flame retardants, and other hazardous compounds. 👉 The next time you see “scrap electronics,” remember — it’s not just waste, it’s urban mining. #waste #wastemanagement #wastedisposal #wastecollection #ewaste #recycling #metals #mining #sustainability #environment #ewasterecycling #swachhbharat

Advanced chemical recycling, or feedstock recycling as called by some, includes a family of different recycling techniques. Resiclo is scaling up pyrolysis, a thermal process breaking down polymers into oil or monomers which has evolved in the last decade from batch to continuous and yields have improved. Pyrolysis enables production of feedstock suitable for the production of food and pharma grade plastics. Other techniques include Depolymerization, where the plastic is broken down into monomers, typically with high yields, but so far it has been used successfully only with PET, polyamide and polystyrene. Gasification, where the plastic is treated at a higher temperature, and is broken down into monomers. This technique is suitable also for biomass, and dirty mixtures, but then yield drop significantly. Physical recycling, sometimes confused with chemical recycling, includes techniques where the plastic remains intact, but includes for example delamination of multilayers, and solvent purification of polymers from additives by either dissolving the polymer or the additives.

Recycling Multi-Material 3D Prints via Computational Design & Disassembly by Dissolution Multi-material 3D printing combines the functional properties of different materials (e.g., mechanical, electrical, color) within a single object that is fabricated without manual assembly. PDF: https://lnkd.in/eqQijHHz However, this presents sustainability challenges as multi-material objects cannot be easily recycled. Because each material has a different processing temperature, considerable effort must be used to separate them for recycling. This paper presents a computational fabrication technique to generate dissolvable interfaces between different materials in a 3D printed object without affecting the object’s intended use. When the interfaces are dissolved, the object is disassembled to enable recycling of the individual materials. We describe the computational design of these interfaces alongside experimental evaluations of their strength and water solubility. Finally, we demonstrate our technique across 9 multi-material 3D printed objects of varying structural and functional complexity. Our technique enables us to recycle 89.97% of the total mass of these objects, promoting greater sustainability in 3D printing. Full Paper Reference: Xin Wen, S. Sandra Bae, and Michael L. Rivera. 2025. Enabling Recycling of Multi-Material 3D Printed Objects through Computational Design and Disassembly by Dissolution. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’25), April 26–May 01, 2025, Yokohama, Japan. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 21 pages. https://lnkd.in/eAdueCsm 🔗 https://lnkd.in/er_NzFPE • https://lnkd.in/dJ5X-Zbj • #3Dprinting • #AdditiveManufacturing • tuan@anisoprint.com • https://anisoprint.com • Like 👍 what you see ► Hit the Bell 🔔 to follow me. P.S. Repost ♻️ if you find it valuable. Thanks! 🙏