Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 3

Bell Helicopter Textron Canada, Bombardier Aerospace and Bombardier Transportation are joining their forces*to the CDCQ to validate the use of recycled carbon fibers in large composite parts. Bell Helicopter and*Bombardier Aerospace are both user of carbon fibers in their parts and generate carbon fiber wastes. These*three industrial partners are looking for low cost solutions to reduce weight and the introduction of recycled*carbon fibers in their products could very well be the solution. Environmental sustainability is a value for all of*them. Reducing their environmental foot print by developing a way to recycle carbon fibers that would*otherwise go to the landfill is one step in the direction of a circular economy model. Many research team and*lab are attempting to revalorize waste carbon prepreg from the aerospace industries. However these efforts*have been unsuccessful so far because the tier 1, 2 and 3 suppliers of carbon composites parts have not been*able to demonstrate that these materials are suitable for relevant applications, and that the supply chain is in*place to sustain production over an extended period. Therefore the first step is to create a momentum to locally*valorize carbon fiber waste by demonstrating the value and performance of parts produced with these recycled*materials. Once these facts are proven, it will be beneficial to reuse these fibers. The OEMs will be able to*initiate the sorting and revalorization of their own waste, made of carbon fibers prepreg scraps and part*trimmings.