Abstract
Light and durable carbon fiber is a promising material for improving the fuel economy of automobiles through weight reduction. Although huge amounts of energy are consumed in the manufacturing of carbon fiber, consumption of automobile life cycle energy is expected to greatly reduce with the introduction of carbon fiber recycling. Several physical and chemical methods for recovering carbon fibers from CFRP have already been proposed. Carbon fibers hardly deteriorate in their physical properties, i.e. tensile strength, even when heated in an inert gas atmosphere. It is reported, however, that the physical properties do deteriorate when exposed to oxygen, steam, and strong acid, etc. Removing plastics without damaging the carbon fibers is the technical target for the carbon fiber recycling process. In order to promote the recycling of carbon fiber, it is also important to develop products that utilize recovered carbon fibers and create social systems that will standardize the necessary quality and traceability of the recovered carbon fibers.
