Toho Tenax Europe GmbH (TTE) has developed a new compound based on recycled thermoplastic carbon fiber material and PEEK (polyetheretherketone) thermoplastic.
Tenax-E COMPOUND rPEEK CF30 is a reinforced material combination of waste materials generated during processing of Tenax ThermoPlastics, and recycled semi crystalline PEEK polymer, which contains 30% of carbon fiber by weight and offers a high performance in strength and stiffness for injection molding applications, the company says.
This compound has an almost identical performance to un-recycled standard material in terms of tensile modulus and strength, which also includes elongation, viscosity, chemical resistance, abrasion and a low moisture to absorption ratio. The price is reportedly 40-60 % compared to virgin carbon fiber reinforced PEEK compounds.
Toho Tenax says that it has successfully manufactured an aircraft wing access panel using the recycled granules.
This story uses material from Toho Tenax, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
