A composite material is produced from carpet waste and a binding agent, in intimate association, and may also include wood fiber or chips and/or other additives. A method of manufacturing a composite material includes shredding carpet waste, coating the carpet waste with a binding agent, and subjecting the shredded, coated carpet waste to elevated heat and pressure. As an additional step, the composite material may be actively cooled to prevent deformation of the material.

The invention relates to a method of producing a sound proofing trim panel comprising the steps of providing an elastically compressible lower layer, heating the lower layer and placing it in a mould to shape it to form a spring layer of a spring-mass type damping system. The method further includes associating the lower layer with an upper layer, to form the mass of the spring-mass system. According to the invention, the lower layer comprises a blend of elastically compressible foam flakes forming at least 80 wt.-% of the lower layer and being mixed with binder fibres. The fibres comprising a core and a sheath that is fusible at a moderate temperature, and the flakes being bonded to one another by means of the fusing of the sheath forming a binder, such that the lower layer takes the form of a bonded foam.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament that includes providing a polymer melt and separating the polymer melt from the extruder into at least eight streams. The multiple streams are exposed to a chamber pressure within a chamber that is below approximately 5 millibars. The streams are recombined into a single polymer stream and formed into bulked continuous carpet filament.

Method for recycling scrap that contains one or more heat resistant fibers and from 25 to 60 wt. %, based on the total weight of the scrap, of an at least partially uncured to fully uncured two component thermosetting resin mixture of (i) one or more thermosetting resins, and (ii) a solid hardener, the methods comprising shredding the scrap to an average size of from 3 to 50 mm, mixing the shredded scrap, preferably after preheating the scrap, to provide a fluid material charge and then compression molding the fluid material charge to make a cured composite material.

An apparatus recycles recyclable materials and has an input that receives a quantity of the recyclable materials. A modification unit of the apparatus receives the quantity of the recyclable material from the input, and selectively produces a modified material from at least some of the quantity of the recyclable material. An output of the apparatus provides the modified material as output. In certain preferred embodiments, a user interface is provided for selecting how the quantity of the recyclable materials is to be modified by the modification unit.

Methods of producing particles of fiber and resin from fiber-resin composite materials are disclosed. The particles may be combined with a resin system and optionally combined with fillers, binders or reinforcements to produce new cured solid composite products.

The method of recycling carbon fiber prepreg waste includes collecting uncured carbon fiber prepreg waste, where the carbon fiber prepreg waste still includes the backing film associated with the carbon fiber prepreg (typically in the form of a colored polyethylene layer). The uncured carbon fiber prepreg waste is then shredded and inserted into either an open or a closed mold. The mold is then inserted into a hot press, where the shredded carbon fiber prepreg waste is cured under selected temperature and pressure for a selected period of time, dependent upon the particular volume of waste and the desired recycled product. Alternatively, the shredded carbon fiber prepreg waste may be rolled in a hot metallic roller or extruded in a hot melt extruder.

The present invention provides a method of reusing prepreg material. The method comprises providing a remnant prepreg, defining a pattern of cutting the remnant prepreg framework to form a continuous strip of the remnant prepreg framework, and cutting the remnant prepreg framework to form a continuous strip of the remnant prepreg framework. The remnant prepreg framework continuous strip may be extruded into a short fiber molding compound (SMC). The SMC may then be used to make parts with lower structural requirements than the parts cut out of the prepreg broadgood. Such SMC parts may be used in industries such as aerospace; automotive; other transportation such as trucks, buses, and motorcycles; sporting goods; and wind.

A sports shoe includes an upper wherein a majority by weight of the upper is made from a thermoplastic base material and a sole wherein a majority by weight of the sole is made from the same thermoplastic base material. The sole and the upper are individually fabricated and joined to each other. The thermoplastic base material includes at least one of the following materials: thermoplastic polyurethane TPU, polyamide PA, polyethylene terephthalate PET, or polybutylene terephthalate PBT.

Waste product from any of a variety of processes (injection molding, selective laser sintering) is processed to form powders that have particle size and distribution optimal for a 3D printing technology known as Composite Based Additive Manufacturing (CBAM). Alternative recycling processes include grinding and sieving, emulsion extruding, and liquid-liquid phase separation.