Renate Lützkendorf

Hybrid Composites with Recycled Carbon Fibres

Natural fibre reinforced plastics (NFRP) have been used to manufacture components in the automotive industry for many years. The main reasons for this are the good specific material properties (high stiffness accompanied by low density), the favorable price but also the positive ecological footprint compared to other materials. Typical applications are door panels, trunk covers and instrument panels in the automobile interior. The usual grammages of such materials range from about 1600 to 2000 g/m2. With regard to the required weight optimisation in new vehicles, a reduction in the grammages of the semi-finished products is necessary. With the currently used natural fibre composites, this cannot be achieved without reducing the mechanical values (stiffness, impact strength). Hybrid composites with recycled carbon fibres (rCF), which allow a significant reduction in component weight with the same or better mechanical properties, are an alternative.