Empa and Elantas developed a flame-retardant composite for aircraft and train interiors that can be separated for recycling. A phosphorus-containing additive changes the epoxy binder, allowing solvent and heat to release the woven fibres and aramid honeycomb core from multilayer panels.
The team reports compliance with fire-safety requirements and mechanical properties close to conventional epoxy composites. Production and recycling still need to be scaled up. Recovering the epoxy resin itself from the solution remains future work, so the result should not be read as a demonstrated closed-loop recycling process for every component.
