The novel upgrade recycling of waste epoxy for thermal management and electromagnetic shielding application

Epoxy resin is one of the most popular thermosetting resins and has been widely used in many fields. However, the stable crosslinking structure of waste epoxy (WEP) caused the low value for recycled products which led to a key challenge for epoxy recycling. Here, we successfully prepared a novel epoxy composite with partially decrosslinked waste epoxy resin (WEP) powder and graphite nanosheet (GNP) through a facile processing strategy. The introduction of partially de-crosslinked WEP powder in epoxy had greatly promoted the construction of an effective three-dimensional GNP network. The maximum thermal conductivity of the composites achieved as high as 10.1 W/mK. The heating and cooling results illustrated the excellent heat transfer ability of the composites. In addition, the prepared composites exhibited an excellent electric conductivity of 3833 S/m and an ultra-high electromagnetic shielding efficiency (SE) of 106.3 dB. This work offered a facile route to prepare functional epoxy composites for thermal management and electromagnetic shielding application and a promising strategy for the upgrade recycling of thermosetting resins.

Automated summary

A novel epoxy composite was successfully prepared with partially decrosslinked waste epoxy resin (WEP) powder and graphite nanosheet (GNP) through a facile processing strategy, which exhibited excellent thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, and electromagnetic shielding efficiency, showing great potential for thermal management and electromagnetic shielding application.