Aniruddh Vashisth, a professor at the University of Washington, has developed a new, very strong, lightweight carbon fiber composite. This new carbon fiber composite is different from conventional carbon fiber in that it can be repaired over and over again. With current carbon fiber materials, once damaged, it is essentially impossible to repair or recycle.

The new carbon fiber composite is just as strong as traditional carbon fiber, but has the benefit of being able to be repaired repeatedly using heat. The heat reverses any fatigue damage to the material, and it can also be used to break down the material when it needs to be recycled. Because conventional carbon fiber cannot be recycled, developing a material that can be recycled or repaired using conventional heat sources or radiofrequency heating was a key discovery.

Professor Vashisth said the heat source could be used to delay the ageing process of his new carbon fibre composite indefinitely. The material belongs to a group known as carbon fiber-reinforced glass fibre (vCFRP). In contrast, the carbon fiber materials commonly used today are carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP). Traditionally, CFRP is thermoset or thermoplastic. Thermoset varieties use epoxy resins with chemical links that hold them together and permanently harden. Thermoplastic varieties use a softer glue that can be melted down and reworked, but doing so affects its strength and stiffness.

vCFRP relies on glass fibers that are able to link, unlink, and re-link, providing something of a middle ground compared to the other two materials. Project researchers believe that vCFRP materials are an alternative to many products made from thermoset materials and can prevent the accumulation of carbon fiber materials in landfills. The material would change the linear life cycle of plastic into a circular one, similar to that of aluminum.

One of the places where carbon fiber composites are commonly used today is in wind turbine blades. One of the biggest drawbacks of these wind turbine blades is that the material cannot be recycled. These blades also have a limited lifespan, and since they can't be recycled, the old blades end up in the dump when they need to be replaced. Thousands of these blades will be removed from wind turbines used to generate electricity over the next few years. Because the chemical properties of the carbon element are quite stable, the blades will never break down in the environment and will always remain where they were placed.

The issue of recycling materials made from carbon fiber composites, such as wind turbine blades, highlights one of the lesser-known challenges of wind energy. Not everything associated with renewable electricity is recyclable. Some of the components needed to generate clean electricity can themselves cause problems for the environment.

If these blades can be made with new vCFRP in the future, it may be possible to simply renew the blades with heat to make them ready for operation again. Even if they can't be repaired and reused, at least heat can be used to break them down, rather than simply burying them in a dump forever.