CFRPs: promising light-weight materials made recyclable with bio-inspired technology! (2021/11/17)

CFRPs (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics) are promising materials for use in vehicles -- including cars and airplanes -- because their specific strength is ten times that of iron. On the other hand, they are still non-recyclable and have to be disposed of in landfills. However, NIMS has developed a novel method of inducing tough CFRP to decompose into substances that can then be recycled. This was inspired by an organic compound present in the human liver involved in redox reactions. Here is an outline of what we did.