Hot-Pressed Multicomponent Recycled Textile Polymer Blends Reinforced with Ground GFRP from Wind Turbine Blades:...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Science
• Recycling Technology

Background:

• Developing sustainable composite materials is crucial for waste reduction.
• Utilizing post-consumer textile waste and end-of-life wind turbine blades offers a circular economy approach.
• Investigating structure-property relationships in recycled composites is key for performance optimization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To manufacture and characterize hot-pressed composite plates using recycled textile waste and ground glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP).
• To evaluate the mechanical performance (flexural and impact strength) of these composites with varying GFRP content.
• To understand the influence of recycled GFRP reinforcement on the properties of textile-derived polymer composites.

Main Methods:

• Composite plates were fabricated via hot pressing (240 °C, 2 MPa, 40 min) using recycled textile waste as the matrix.
• Ground GFRP from wind turbine blades was incorporated at 0, 10, 20, and 30 wt.%.
• Mechanical properties were assessed through flexural and Charpy impact tests.

Main Results:

• Flexural strengths ranged from 9-13 MPa and impact strengths from 7.3-8.9 kJ m⁻².
• No monotonic increase in flexural strength was observed with increasing GFRP content.
• The unreinforced matrix showed the highest average flexural strength; higher GFRP levels yielded comparable or lower strengths with increased scatter.

Conclusions:

• The addition of ground GFRP did not consistently enhance the flexural strength of recycled textile composites.
• Heterogeneous dispersion, reduced reinforcement length, interfacial issues, and defects likely impacted mechanical performance.
• Findings highlight the complexity of structure-property relationships in recycled, heterogeneous composite systems.