Recycle and Reuse of Continuous Carbon Fibers from Thermoset Composites Using Joule Heating.

This study demonstrates a new and sustainable methodology for recycling continuous carbon fibers from end-of-life thermoset composite parts using Joule heating. This process addresses the longstanding challenge of efficiently recovering carbon fibers from composite scrap and reusing them to make fresh composites. The conductive carbon fibers volumetrically heat up when an electric current is passed through them, which in turn rapidly heats up the surrounding matrix sufficiently to degrade it.