RECYCLING END-OF-LIFE SAILS

We are sponsoring Marcelle Hecker, a fourth year PhD student from the EPSRC-funded CoSEM Centre of Doctoral Training in the Bristol Composites Institute at the University of Bristol, to carry out her PhD research project in collaboration with North Sails. In this project reclaiming the valuable CF content via a variety of reclamation processes, and remanufacturing the reclaimed, short carbon fibres into aligned, discontinuous fibre reinforced (ADFR) prepreg-like tape. Over the past two months, this ADFR tape, made from reclaimed fibres from an end-of-life sail, was used to manufacture two technology demonstrators – pictured here is a batten. An example of how this ADFR tape could be incorporated into current manufacturing processes used in the sailing industry to produce semi-structural components for yachts.