Recycling carbon and glass fiber polymer matrix composite waste into cementitious materials

Abstract

Recycling options for fiber polymer matrix composites (FPMCs) are limited since they typically cannot be re-used or re-processed. One source of FPMCs is the utility industry, which is increasingly using hybrid carbon and glass FPMC core high voltage (HV) conductors for energy transmission. As there are currently no recycling methods for these composite cores, we investigated if hybrid carbon and glass FPMC waste could be recycled as an admixture for cementitious materials in order to improve their properties for seawater applications. We assessed the compression strength of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with 6% wt of various FPMC admixtures before and after accelerated salt-water aging. The experimental part of this research was strongly supported by molecular dynamics simulations (MD) to examine the effect of FPMC admixtures on moisture diffusion in OPC. It was established that recycled finely ground FPMC admixtures can provide a benefit to cementitious materials by decreasing void content and slowing the diffusivity of corrosive compounds such as salt water.