Recycling of the Natural Fibre Composites and their Hybrids: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

The development for composites is growing rapidly in both synthetics and natural fibre-based materials. As this trend increases, it is obvious that the waste and recycling management will become a crucial issue in various industries. The difficulty recycling challenge is due to their heterogeneity properties. In this study, the composite performances after recycling were investigated using the mechanical recycling as reprocessing method. Mechanical recycling provides an effective method where the original materials are broken down into granules, which then can be use as raw material for moulding process. The produced recyclates are aimed as the moulding or compounding materials as the reuse applications. The introduction of the bamboo fibres in the hybrid composites system is desirable to increase the usage of natural fibres for environmental reason. The aim of this study is also to evaluate the potential of the bamboo-glass hybrid composite recyclates as the second reuse materials, in which the decrease observed in their properties after recycling can be compensated for by the hybridisation with the presence of glass fibres.