Uni-Directional Tape Structures Consisting of Recycled Carbon Fibres and Polyamide 6 Fibers for High-Performance Thermoplastic Composites

Carbon fibers (CF) are indispensable for lightweight applications in the automotive, aircraft, construction, and wind energy sectors. In this paper, the focus is on the development of flexible, highly customizable Uni-directional tape structures (UD-tape) from recycled carbon fibers (rCF) and thermoplastic polyamide 6 (PA 6) fibers for thermoplastic composites with outstanding mechanical properties. For the development of UD-tapes, further developments of the carding and drawing processes for the production of rCF and PA6 slivers and the development of a prototype tape production are necessary. The production of the UD-tape takes place on a modified and constructively adapted set-up, consisting of a drafting unit, thermo-fixation unit, compacting unit, followed by the wind-up unit. The composite manufactured from the UD-tapes shows a very high tensile strength of 1339 ± 28 MPa and an E-module of 84.7 ± 2.3 GPa. The processing of rCF into UD-tapes shows high ecological and economic sustainability and, thus, the efficient usage of fossil resources to protect the environment.