In all currently considered industrial recycling processes for fiber-reinforced composites, these structures must first be mechanically reduced in size due to their structural dimensions so that they can subsequently be fed into a process that separates the high-performance fibers from the surrounding matrix.
 

Depending on the recycling process, different fiber yields result, degrees of purity, and mechanical fiber properties, such that the direct reuse of the recycled fibers as a substitute for the original high-performance fibers is currently ruled out simply due to the fiber geometry and the originally applied sizing, which creates adhesion to the surrounding matrix. Furthermore, every process step along the recycling chain requires the input of process energy. 

The “ProWiFa” project builds on this starting point and aims to optimize the recycling process for high-performance fiber composites using mechanically applied energy, and subsequently to transform the resulting material systems into fiber-reinforced composites in combination with thermoplastic materials. In this context, the focus—with the optimized disintegration of high-performance fiber composite systems—is on evaluating the necessary process conditions for the material depending on the subsequent processing via shear-induced processes such as extrusion and injection molding, while also considering further processing via additive manufacturing.