Recycling of Thermoset Composites Waste: End of Life Solution

Companies are under enormous pressure to implement a reuse or recycling solutions for manufactured composite components at the end of their useful lives. This includes waste-free manufacturing techniques or a method to reuse the manufacturing waste. The recycling dilemma for composite components is intrinsically problematic since composite consists of two different materials (matrix and reinforcement). To date, the most popular recycling processes for composite waste recycling are mechanical process (chopping or shredding), pyrolysis (flame-based), solvolysis (chemical-based), hydrolysis (water-based), and thermolysis (heat-based). Most of these techniques results in short fibers with compromised mechanical properties, cost escalation, and use of harsh chemicals. Environmental pressure, strict rules and regulations laid by the governments to protect the environment and for overcoming the drawbacks of the existing recycling methods, novel methods which uses microwaves, eco-friendly chemicals to recycle polymer composites are being developed. This chapter will present a brief on various recycling methods currently available for thermoset composites along with the past work carried out by various researchers worldwide. At the end the chapter focuses on the current advancements that have been carried out in recycling of composite waste by various composite industries. The further research direction has also been highlighted.