Toray Industries has developed a recycling technology that can decompose diverse carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) made from thermosetting resins. The solution ensures that the material’s strength and surface quality are maintained. Additionally, the technology has helped to create a nonwoven fabric employing recycled carbon fibres.
Toray Industries
Recovering high quality rCF.
Toray is already providing customers with prototype samples with the aim of developing performance and decorative materials for diverse applications, like automobiles, construction, electricals and electronics, and daily necessities.
Utilising chemical recycling as a reducing agent in steel furnaces is becoming more popular for recycling CFRP. Technologies are emerging that pyrolyse waste CFRP at high temperatures to recover and reuse fibres. To broaden applications, technologies need to suppress thermal damage to recycled carbon fibres and control resin residue; this can then be applied to diverse types of waste CFRP.
Toray has used its expertise in organic synthesis and polymerisation to improve a decomposition agent that breaks down degradation-resistant, three-dimensionally crosslinked thermosetting resins at lower temperatures compared to conventional methods. The company used this agent to decompose CFRP waste from aircraft, wind turbines, automobiles, and other sources. Any recycled carbon fibre created using this process retains over 95% of the single-fibre tensile strength of petroleum-derived virgin carbon fibre.
This technology’s recycled carbon fibre is stronger than conventional counterparts and minimises fibre breakage in post-processing. The material’s low resin residue and enhanced surface quality allow for more diverse applications. Specifically, dispersing short fibres and processing them into sheet-form nonwoven fabrics has been successful. The recycled carbon fibres produced using this technology feature controllable water dispersibility, allowing for the fabrication of uniform nonwoven structures as well as those with the texture reminiscent of washi (traditional Japanese paper).
Toray developed the recycling technology and carbon fibre nonwoven fabric processing technology as part of the fiscal 2024 through the 2025 Ministry of the Environment program that promotes decarbonisation and the circular economy.