On the separation and recycling behaviour of textile reinforced concrete: an experimental study

This paper presents the results of recent experiments on the recyclability of the textile components in textile reinforced concrete (TRC). TRC as a multi-component system often contains organic ingredients such as carbon fibres and polymer impregnations. Consequently, the recycling of TRC is not trivial and has not yet been sufficiently clarified until now. In this study, an impregnated, bi-axially reinforced, and warp-knitted textiles made of carbon fibres was used in combination with a fine grained concrete. Flexural tests on TRC specimens containing recycled epoxy-impregnated carbon reinforcement were performed, whereby the recycling was simulated by a pre-treatment of the carbon fibre material in a jaw crusher. The results showed a pronounced decrease in flexural strength compared to untreated carbon reinforcement. Moreover, three different crushing methods were investigated with respect to their influence on the recovery of styrene-butadiene-rubber impregnated carbon textiles. Besides jaw crushing and impact milling, crushing with a hammer mill showed the best degree of purity but also caused the highest mechanical damage to the textile. The impact of material, structure of the composite and crushing methods on the separation behaviour could be deduced from the experiments.