Green recycling of aramid fiber waste as the friction modifier of POM by solid state shear milling technology

• Published in: Polymers for advanced technologies Vol. 33; no. 10; pp. 3540 - 3550
• Main Authors: Liao, Yi, Chen, Chaofeng, Wei, Baojie, Yang, Shuangqiao, Bai, Shibing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.10.2022; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: aramid fiber; Coefficient of friction; Composite materials; Compressive strength; Flexural strength; Friction; Friction resistance; Mechanical properties; Milling (machining); Modulus of elasticity; Recycling; S3M technology; Shearing; Solid state; Tribology; Ultrafines; wear; Wear rate
• ISSN: 1042-7147; 1099-1581
• DOI: 10.1002/pat.5808

Aramid fiber is widely used in aerospace, machinery, construction, and other fields for its high strength, high elastic modulus, lightweight, and superior comprehensive performance. However, because aramid fiber is difficult to be melted and reprocessed, efficient and environmentally friendly recycling of aramid fiber waste (AFW) is an urgent and challenging issue. In this work, we reported a facile way to recycle AFW for the preparation of friction‐resistant polyoxymethylene (POM)/AFW composites. The ultrafine AFW powder with 64.69 μm in size was fabricated by solid state shear milling (S3M) technology, which broke the amide bond due to the strong compression and shearing during milling. With the increase of milling cycles, the roughness and active groups on the surface of AFW were increased, which was contributed to improving the compatibility between AFW and POM matrix. The morphology observation indicated a good dispersion of AFW in POM. The mechanical property test results showed that the flexural strength increased from 52.69 MPa to 80.12 MPa with 20 wt.% AFW. As a friction modifier, the addition of AFW could improve the tribological properties of POM/AFW composites, and the coefficient of friction (COF) and wear rate of composites with 20 wt.% AFW could decrease by 53.02% and 69.52%, respectively. The S3M technology presented in this work is an efficient and industrialized strategy for AFW recycling to prepare value‐added products, which has great potential in the engineering application field.