Recycled carbon fiber bundles support circular supply chain goals

Vartega (Denver, Colo., U.S.) recycles carbon fiber, at scale, into a format specifically designed as a drop-in replacement for virgin chopped carbon fiber in traditional thermoplastic compounding lines. The company is continuously investing in manufacturing capacity to support increased demand for its recycled materials, which can be found in-market in automotive components, sporting goods, electronics assemblies and many other thermoplastic applications.  

Vartega’s patented fiber post-processing technology converts discontinuous virgin and recycled carbon fiber into easy-to-handle and feed bundles. While recycled carbon fiber has been notoriously difficult to work with and presents many challenges for traditional thermoplastics extrusion processors who lack the capability to work with loose, fluffy, low-density materials, Vartega’s process densifies these fibers into aligned fiber bundles with what the company says is significantly higher bulk density and improved flowability. This enables their use as a drop-in replacement to traditional virgin carbon in pellet, flake or stick form. 

The company reports that its processes also enable carbon fiber to be recycled while maintaining original mechanical properties at a lower cost than virgin material. Vartega offers its EasyFeed Bundle formats for simpler thermoplastic compounding to serve injection molded composite material applications. Vartega also supplies recycled carbon fiber in other formats for compression molding, additive manufacturing (3D printing) and other composites manufacturing processes. The bundles are low dust and have fairly uniform fiber length. They are also compatibilized for use with various thermoplastics including ABS, PLA, PP, PC and PA.

On display is the company’s EasyFeed Bundle chopped fiber format along with several examples of highly filled thermoplastics incorporating Vartega’s recycled carbon fiber into structural applications for metals replacement and lightweighting.