Closed‐Loop Recycling of Laminated and Pultruded CFRPs : Thermo‐Oxidative Decomposition, Remanufacturing, and Life Cycle Assessment

ABSTRACT The increasing use of carbon fiber‐reinforced polymers (CFRPs) from household commodities to high‐tech industrial applications has led to significant waste generation. Thermo‐oxidative recycling has the potential to address CFRP waste recycling challenges, but the process is not well explored. This study investigates the thermo‐oxidative decomposition (TOD) parameters for different types of CFRPs with various compositions, followed by remanufacturing using reclaimed carbon fibers (rCFs). A commercial box‐type furnace was used for TOD after identifying the optimum process parameters through thermogravimetric analyses and characterizing the surface morphology, surface composition, and structural integrity of rCFs through SEM, XPS, and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. The proposed methodology enables efficient recovery of carbon fibers (CFs) whose surface morphology, surface composition, and structural integrity are comparable to virgin CFs. The remanufactured unidirectional longitudinal CFRP exhibited retention of more than 73.1% and 90.28% of the original tensile strength and modulus, respectively. The unidirectional‐orthotropic laminated CFRP showed decreases of 33.07% and 27.4% in tensile strength and modulus, respectively. Furthermore, the current recycling solution reduces direct GHG emissions by 95.8%–96.3% and energy demand by 75.97% compared to virgin CF production. These findings support sustainable closed‐loop recycling of CFRP, reducing waste and environmental impact.