Separation and recycling by steam-explosion for FRP

Fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) are superior materials with light weight, high strength and durability, but they have disadvantages, such as waste disposal and recycling. Unsaturated polyester resin was reinforced with random-planar orientation using glass fibers. In order to make the separation of fiber and resin easy, we tried to modify the fiber-matrix interface by immersing the material in hot water, and then tried steam-exploding glass fiber-unsaturated polyester resin composites (GFRP) under various temperature and pressure conditions.