Mechanical laminae separation at room temperature as a high-quality recycling process for laminated composites

Laminated composites feature outstanding specific properties and therefore a high potential for weight savings in lightweight applications. However, no current method enables the circularity of composite materials due to the quasi-systematic use of shredding as part of the recycling process. In the presented work an innovative mechanical recycling technique is proposed to enable the recovery of reusable laminae from composite parts and offcuts. This method consists in three steps: generation of a notch as crack initiation area, controlled initiation of an interlaminar crack using an impact loading and propagation of the crack using a dynamic peel-like loading. Tensile tests conducted on recovered laminae highlight the possibility to preserve both strength and stiffness of the original material.