As part of a portfolio of products designed to deliver improved sustainability, PRF Composite Materials (Poole, Dorset, U.K.) is introducing Reepreg, the company’s new carbon fiber prepreg material made with recycled chopped carbon mat.

PRF’s processing enables almost full impregnation, which makes Reepreg drapeable and easily handled by the constructor, without falling apart when used — a feature that the PRF team believes sets it apart from other recycled mat products available. The mat is made using recycled carbon fiber prepreg waste. In the near future, PRF says the the finished component — including scrap from trimming components — will also be recyclable, thus improving circularity and extending the life cycle of this product.

Reepreg will be available in combination with PRF’s component prepreg resin systems and in standard weights of 100, 200 and 300 gsm. The material can be processed in autoclave and press, and can be used as a core material in conjunction with PRF’s woven and unidirectional prepreg materials.

“This product has exciting potential,” Dave Ellson, managing director, says. “The material is quick to process and when combined with our eXpress cure resin systems, offers a solution that significantly saves time, reduces energy consumption and cost and removes composite waste from going to landfill. Thereby making it a highly sustainable material.”

According to Robert Burnell, CEO, “While we recognize the contribution that biomaterials may make in the future of composites, at PRF we believe that we can do more by finding ways to improve the circularity of traditional composite materials; improving their sustainability while retaining their superior composite properties. As such, we will continue to invest in product development, where we can improve manufacturing and processing, save energy, and reduce plastic and other waste materials.”