Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers are widely used in space applications since they combine outstanding mechanical properties with low material density. However, the development of composite components involves raw materials that are becoming increasingly scarce and contributes significantly to carbon emissions during the manufacturing process. Indeed, the fabrication of fibers is energy-intensive and requires very high temperatures, high costs, and usually precursor materials derived from fossil fuels. In addition to the negative environmental impact due to the manufacturing process, there are critical issues related to the disposal of components fabricated using carbon/glass fiber composites. Therefore, the use of efficient recycling strategies becomes necessary, according to economic reasons and legislation. The recycled fibers exhibit different properties from virgin fibers, generally lower, due to adverse effects of the current recycling methods. In this study, we investigated the potential application of recovered carbon fibers in satellite platforms, using recycled fibers from our laboratory obtained with a subcritical solvolysis method that we have previously developed. Composite materials reinforced with recycled and virgin carbon fibers were exposed to UV-C, and the effects of irradiation were analyzed in terms of structural performance, surface morphology, and chemical modifications of the samples. Results were used to evaluate the possibility of effectively using recycled fibers in space applications, without significant loss of performance.

中文翻译：

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UV-C 暴露对再生碳纤维复合材料的影响

碳纤维增强聚合物广泛应用于太空应用，因为它们结合了出色的机械性能和低材料密度。然而，复合材料部件的开发所涉及的原材料变得越来越稀缺，并且在制造过程中会显着增加碳排放。事实上，纤维的制造是能源密集型的，需要非常高的温度、高成本，并且通常需要来自化石燃料的前体材料。除了制造过程对环境造成的负面影响外，使用碳/玻璃纤维复合材料制造的部件还存在与处置相关的关键问题。因此，根据经济原因和立法，有必要使用有效的回收策略。由于当前回收方法的不利影响，回收纤维表现出与原生纤维不同的性能，通常较低。在这项研究中，我们研究了回收碳纤维在卫星平台中的潜在应用，使用了我们实验室通过我们之前开发的亚临界溶剂分解方法获得的回收纤维。将回收碳纤维和原生碳纤维增强的复合材料暴露在 UV-C 下，并从样品的结构性能、表面形貌和化学改性方面分析辐照的影响。结果用于评估在太空应用中有效使用再生纤维而不显着降低性能的可能性。