Sustainability of fiber reinforced laminate and honeycomb composites in manufacturing industries

Abstract

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites provide a lot of benefits, including strength-to-weight ratio / light weight, superior mechanical properties, low maintenance, prolonged service life, as well as corrosion, fatigue and creep resistance. However, sustainability of the FRP composites have not been studied in detail in terms of long term productions in various industries, such as aerospace, wind energy, automotive and defense. Carbon fibers are relatively expensive because of the energy intensive production systems, and lack of easy production options, which forces many companies to recycle and reuse the FRP composites in the same or different manufacturing industries. This study mainly deals with two important issues, including the disposal of composite wastes generated during the manufacturing of composite parts, and the disposal of the products at the end of their useful life. It is believed that the carbon fibers in the used composites will have still high mechanical strengths to use in different composite manufacturing after its end of life. The major manufacturing costs come from the labor and raw materials, so using the recycled carbon fibers will make sustainable composite productions in other industries. This paper presents the current status and outlook of the FRP composite recycling and re-manufacturing techniques in the same or different industries. A future vision of the FRP composites will be investigated with sustainability point of views. This study will also mention about the sustainability issues in laminate and honeycomb composites, new product design and developments and potential applications in different manufacturing industries.