The Influence of Recycling On Thermotropic Liquid Crystalline Polymer and Glass Fiber Composites
In this paper, high-performance thermotropic liquidcrystalline polymer (TLCP)/polypropylene (PP) and glassfiber (GF)/PP composites were prepared by the injectionmolding process. Mechanical recycling of TLCP/PP andGF/PP composites consisted of grinding of the injectionmolded specimens and further injection molding of thegranules. The influence of mechanical recycling onmechanical and thermal properties was investigated. In situTLCP/PP maintains tensile modulus and strength duringthe recycling process, indicating the regeneration ofpolymeric fibrils at each reprocessing stage. GF/PPcomposite exhibits deterioration of mechanical propertiesafter recycling because of fiber breakage during processing,which is a very common issue on reusing glass or carbonfiber reinforced composites. The experimental resultsreveal that the TLCP/PP composite has better recyclabilitythan GF/PP.