Sigmatex launches recycled carbon fiber non-woven fabric

 

 

Carbon fiber textile manufacturer Sigmatex (Benicia, Calif., U.S.) announced on Jan. 22 that it has launched a recycled carbon fiber non-woven fabric to the composites market.

As part of its commitment to reduce the environmental impact of composites, Sigmatex reports that it has developed a process that enables energy-efficient capture and reprocessing of its internal waste streams, as well as those of its customers. The output of this is, Sigmatex says, a high-quality product that is both versatile in its applications and easy to process. The company anticipates that this approach could save up to 500 metric tonnes of carbon fiber waste going to landfill each year by 2025.

This non-woven fabric is produced from high-quality carbon fiber waste, with sizing intact, offering improved fiber to resin bond strength with area weights from 100-600 gsm. The highly conformable product is an isotropic material said to exhibit excellent mechanical properties, and that can be debulked, improving processing via prepreg methods.

“One of the most important considerations when selecting a recycled carbon fiber product is the energy demand required to recover the carbon fiber before converting it into a fabric form for reuse,” says Paul McMullan, commercial director at Sigmatex. “While all recycled carbon methods are positive to the environment if they displace the use of virgin carbon fiber, some recovery methods are superior to others. Our process, unlike other recovery methods such as chemical or pyrolysis, is an ultra-energy-efficient recovery method that only uses around 10-20% of the energy demand of those alternative methods, making the Sigmatex product the best solution for environmentally conscious customers.”