Bodies of road cars around the world are usually made of steel, but super-light performance vehicles like those in Formula One racing, weighing almost 50 per cent less, use carbon fibre.
This is not to say we need to turn our regular sedans into race cars.
Research at University of New South Wales in Canberra, in collaboration with the auto industry, has found recycled carbon fibre can be used to build lighter cars which would use less fuel.
"New carbon fibres are very expensive. Hence, [auto companies] were trying to understand if you can recycle this material from, say, aeroplanes and wind turbines, then it will be cheaper to use in vehicles," research associate Di (Andy) He said.
As a researcher in the area of improving the sustainability of complex materials, Dr He previously noted 95 per cent of carbon fibre ended up in landfills.
'Cotton candy' fibres
Dr He said traditionally recycling carbon fibre followed the same method as recycling metal and plastic where they were cut into smaller pieces.
He said carbon fibre costs up to $50 a kilogram, and between $10 and $20 after recycling.
But the properties which gave carbon fibre its strength were lost in this process, and it could only be used to make items like tables and chairs.
"The current recycled fibres, they look like cotton candy ... they're not compact enough," he said.
As a consequence, he was tasked with figuring out how to better recycle the material to reduce degradation and maximise its use. Through a thermal process, by carefully revising the temperature and time used to treat the material, Dr He has discovered how to make the recycled carbon fibre more valuable.
His method reduced degradation of fibres from 80 per cent to about 40 per cent.
"We don't do the chopping, shredding - we optimise the conditions to make sure we have clean fibres," he said. Dr He continues to improve this process in his lab. Next, he wants to see how such recycling can be done, for the first time, on a bigger scale in Australia.
