High flow compression molding for recycling discontinuous long fiber thermoplastic composites

An investigation into high flow compression molding for recycling thermoplastic discontinuous long fiber composites is presented. High flow recycled panels and conventional low flow baseline panels were produced with a large rectangular (2:1 aspect ratio) mold. Flow was induced in the recycled panels by stacking cut sections of conventionally produced baseline panels in the center of the mold cavity, representing 25% initial coverage. High flow compression molded panels were found to exhibit significantly higher than baseline tensile strength (+50%) and modulus (+31%) when tested in the direction parallel to flow. When tested in the direction perpendicular to flow, the opposite effect was found, with reductions in tensile strength (-42%) and modulus (-37%). However, when the average results of both directions are compared to baseline, no significant difference was found between the recycled and baseline panels. This severe anisotropic redistribution of mechanical properties suggests chip orientation is affected by flow. Additionally, micrographic analysis revealed that high flow molding induces intra-ply chip shearing and a reduction in resin rich regions within panels. Baseline panels also exhibited in-plane anisotropy, despite initial random distribution of chips and no or near no flow induced during molding. In this case, mechanical properties favored the direction perpendicular to that of the recycled panels.