Evaluation of carbon fibers structure and morphology after their recycling via pyro-gassification of CFRPs

The present work presents the evaluation of the performance of single carbon fibers after pyro-gassification treatment in different gasification conditions, i.e. 500°C for 30' and 60', and 600°C for 20', in order to evaluate the intrinsic fiber properties that might contribute to the overall composite behavior when re-impregnated with a polymeric matrix. Such investigation, carried with different analytic techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, XRD diffractometry, SEM Microscopy with EDX atimic mapping and finally mechanical tensile test carried out on single fibers, proves that convenient pyro-gassification conditions might lead to recovery of carbon fibers with properties not far from the pristine ones. While some further tuning of the gasification condition might still be required, 500°C proved to be the optimal temperature for treatment, where the structure and morphology are practically untouched and mechanical properties are well comparable with pristine fibers in terms of Young's Modulus with just a slight drop in ultimate properties.