This authoritative reference work provides a comprehensive review of the management, recycling and reuse of waste composites. These are issues which are of increasing importance due to the growing use of composites in many industries, increasingly strict legislation and concerns about disposal of composites by landfill or incineration.Part one discusses the management of waste composites and includes an introduction to composites recycling and a chapter on EU legislation for recycling waste composites. Part two reviews thermal technologies for recycling waste composites with chapters on pyrolysis, catalytic transformation, thermal treatments for energy recovery and fluidized bed pyrolysis. Part three covers mechanical methods of recycling waste composites. This section includes chapters on additives for recycled plastic composites, improving mechanical recycling and the quality and durability of mechanically recycled composites. Parts four discusses improving sustainable manufacture of composites, with chapters on environmentally-friendly filament winding of FRP composites, process monitoring and new developments in producing more functional and sustainable composites. Part five gives a review of case studies including end-of-life wind turbine blades, aerospace composites, marine composites, composites in construction and the recycling of concrete.With its distinguished editor and international team of contributors, Management, recycling and reuse of waste composites is a standard reference for anyone involved in the disposal or recycling of waste composites. - Reviews the increasingly important issues of recycling and reuse as a result of the increased use of composites - Discusses the management of waste composites and EU legislation with regards to recycling - Examines methods for recycling, including thermal technologies and mechanical methods

This report examines the issue of converting plastics waste into energy and/or useful chemicals. Much plastic material is discarded as waste, such as packaging and end-of-life vehicle components. This report introduces the different waste management options. It discusses the methods available for treating mixed plastics waste and PVC-rich plastics waste. The emphasis in this report is on technologies which are already being used or assessed for use on a commercial scale. Comparisons are made between the different types of recycling currently available in terms of life cycle assessment and environmental impact. Feedstock recycling is discussed extensively in this review. This report is accompanied by around 400 abstracts from papers in the Rapra Polymer Library database.

In recent years significant progress has been made in many areas of polymer blend and polymer matrix composite science and technology. This volume comprises a selection of refereed papers which cover the state-of-the-art, and predict future trends in polymer blend and composite research; including established, as well as innovative, applications and new directions for these novel materials. The contents are grouped into five sections: theoretical and experimental studies of manufacturing processes; structure-property relationships; damage mechanics and characterization; fracture and fatigue; and toughening and strengthening mechanisms. The articles present detailed results and new findings concerning these topics. Alltogether they present an authoritative view of recent research in the important fields of polymer blend and composite use. 1. Processing and Manufacturing. 2. Structure-Property Relationships. 3. Damage Mechanics and Characterization. 4. Fracture and Fatigue. 5. Toughening and Strengthening Mechanisms.

The author reviews the synthesis, manufacture and characterisation of epoxy monomers, cure reactions of epoxy resins, spectroscopic and analytical methods of studying cure, techniques for the modelling of cure, the use of additives and modifiers, and technologically driven advances in applications. An additional indexed section containing several hundred abstracts from the Rapra Polymer Library database provides useful references for further reading.