This study assessed the changes in the fiber properties of virgin and recovered fibers from lab-scale and pilot-scale depolymerization reactors based on the thermal air oxidation-resistance characteristics. Lab-scale and pilot-scale depolymerization reactors had different depolymerization volumes. Results showed that the lab-scale and pilot-scale peak solvent temperatures were 185 °C and 151 °C, respectively. The lab-scale had highest solvent temperature rate increase because of the small depolymerization volume and the dominant role of the cavitation volume. The structural properties of the recovered and virgin fibers were intact even after the depolymerization and after the pretreatment and oxidation-resistance test. We observed 1.213%, 1.027% and 0.842% weight loss for the recovered (lab-scale), the recovered (pilot-scale) and virgin fibers because of the removal of impurities from the surface and chemisorbed gases. Further, we observed 0.8% mass loss of the recovered fibers (lab-scale) after the oxidative-onset temperature because of the “cavitation erosion effect” from the dominant of the cavitation bubbles. The “cavitation erosion effect” was subdued because of the increased depolymerization volume in the pilot-scale reactor. Therefore, negligible impact of the pilot-scale mechanochemical recycling process on the structure and surface characteristics of the fibers and the possibility of reusing the recovered fibers recycling process were characteristic. Representative functional groups were affected by the thermal oxidation process. We conducted HPLC, HT-XRD, TGA– DSC, XPS, SEM, and AFM analysis and provided an extensive discussion of the test thereof. This study highlighted how misleading and insufficient small-lab-scale results could be in developing viable CFRP depolymerization process.

폴리아크릴로나트릴(PAN)계 탄소섬유 및 안정화 PAN섬유를 사용하여 제조한 페놀수지 복합재료의 열주기 산화저항성에 섬유표면의 인산코팅 유.무가 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 각 복합재료의 열주기 산화저항성은 열중량분석기의 원리를 응용하여, 공기중에서 hot zone과 cold zone을 주기적으로 반복이동하는 열충격조건에 노출되면서 초래되는 복합재료의 중량변화를 측정하여 비교하였다. 시험변수로는 hot zone에 노출된 온도, 시간 및 싸이클횟수를 선정하였다. 이 시험방법은 비교적 단순하며, 작은 크기의 시편으로도 가능하고, 중량변화가 온-라인 모니터에서 직접 감지되므로 데이타의 신뢰성이 ?다. 각 시험조건에서 인산코팅한 섬유를 사용한 복합재료가 그렇지 않은 재료보다 고온에서의 높은 산화저항성 때문에 우수한 열주기저항성을 보여 주었다. 또한 인산코팅의 존재 여부가 열주기시험 후의 탄소섬유-페놀수지 및 안정화 PAN섬유-페놀수지 복합재료의 미세구조에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다.