MAE Final Year Project
Overview
The project objective is to ultimately expand on the existing work that has been accomplished by the Advanced Composites Group (ACG) and to determine the economic viability of using recycled glass fibre from end of life wind turbine blades. The project has been broken down into four sections, three of which investigate different methods used to create a glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) using our recycled glass fibres and the final work package looks into the sustainability of using glass fibres by performing a life cycle analysis.
Work Package I
Investigating methods to improve the mechanical strength of the recycled fibres.
Glass fibres are recovered from an end of life wind turbine blade using the rig in the laboratory at Strathclyde University.
The fibres are thermally cleaned to completely erase the chemical.
The fibres are then combined into a polymer matrix using the wet disposition process.
Four mats are created using the compression moulding process.
The mats are then compression moulded and cold pressed into a panel.
The panel is laser cut into tensile bars.
Five panels are made, each receiving different treatment to investigate its effect on the mechanical strength of the fibres.
Work Package II
Finding an industrial partner willing to use recycled glass fibres for compounding and/or moulding processes.
Investigate the commercial possibilities of the recycled glass fibres by sourcing industrial processes that can be used with our collected fibres.
Source a compounding specialist.
Source a bulk moulding company to create a panel using our recycled glass fibres.
Collect fibres to send to the companies.
Mechanical testing of the product to compare mechanical properties with products from in-house operations.
Work Package III
Creating a panel using recycled glass fibres where the carding process was used to generate the polymer matrix.
Collect recycled glass fibres from an end of life wind turbine blade using the in-house rig.
Send fibres away to Strathclyde University's partner, ITA Aachen.
ITA Aachen performs the carding process using their in-house machines.
Create a panel from the samples from Aachen using a compression moulding process.
Mechanical testing to compare mechanical properties.
Work Package IV
Performing a life cycle analysis on an ideal version of our rig and scaling up to investigate commercial possibilities.
Gather data on an ideal, efficient and scaled version of our in-house rig.
Perform a life cycle analysis on the scaled rig.
Compare results with the UK standards on sustainability as well as research papers.
Determine the energy and carbon usage of an industrial scale process
