A study on the mechanical recycling of continuous glass fibre reinforced nylon 6 profiles produced by in-situ pultrusion

This study investigates the influence of mechanical recycling of profiles with PA6 matrix and a glass fibre content of 65 vol.-% made with in-situ pultrusion on the resultant mechanical properties. The produced profiles were shredded and further processed in different formulations of varying dust and coarse fractions by two processing routes. The overall fibre weight fraction was maintained at 30 wt.-% by mixing it with virgin material. In route one, the material was compounded and then injection moulded to test specimens. Direct processing by injection moulding without compounding was investigated in the second route. The properties of the recycled material are compared to PA6-GF30 injection moulding unprocessed virgin material. The results show that higher mechanical properties can be achieved with the pure coarse fraction of recycled material. Direct processing of the coarse fraction without prior compounding resulted in higher mechanical properties, comparable to the virgin material. A test series with non-separated mix of coarse and dust fraction showed a slight decrease in the mechanical properties compared to the virgin benchmark material.