Recycled carbon fibre mats for interlayer toughening of carbon fibre/epoxy composites

• Recycled carbon fibres were used for laminate interlayer toughening. The commingled rCFs/Polyphenylene-sulfid showed excellent toughening performance. mode-I and mode-II fracture energies of the significantly increased by 220% 105%, respectively. This study demonstrated an attractive application recycled fibres. Exploring routes effective use (rCFs) is critical to close loop in life cycle work a potential using rCFs fibre/epoxy composites. Nonwoven mats based on (PPS) interlay laminate, aiming improve toughness. experimental results proved significant enhancements interlaminar properties upon interleaving, with rCF/PPS exhibiting more prominent effectiveness than rCF mats. For example, maximum increase initiation laminates was 51% 66%, respectively interleaving mats, adding rCFs/PPS fractography analysis that main mechanisms fibre debonding pulling-out bridging differences resulted opposite effects interlayer/epoxy adhesion toughness, i.e. improved but negatively affected performance