Mechanical Response and Processability of Wet-Laid Recycled Carbon Fiber PE, PA66 and PET Thermoplastic Composites
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In this manuscript, the authors studied mechanical properties of wet laid (WL) process produced composite, which is made of recycled carbon fiber (rCF) with thermoplastic resins. They controlled variables including composition between resins (PE, PA66, and PET) and carbon fiber, the perform type, and processing condition. The authors found that higher tensile strength and modulus can be achieved in the sample with roll form, and with PA66 resins. The authors also identified the pre-drying process for PA66-CF and the matched metal die for all resins systems are important. This manuscript is interesting, and provides a systematic guidelines of using rCF composites. Some clarification is needed, and some changes suggested for further improvement. I recommend a minor revision on this manuscript.
1. There are some typos need to be corrected. E.g.
- “In some cases, modulus and strength for cross-stack were lower by xx compared to no-stack.”
- Degree Fahrenheit symbol were mislabeled throughout manuscript.
2. Is there any specific reason that C/PE samples were heated at 250 °F while other samples were heated at 500 °F?
3. It seems like compression molding was conducted at different temperature for different composites. Could the authors elaborate the reason of selecting different temperatures?
4. Could the authors elaborate on how many flat edge and dog bone samples were measured in the batch 1? If only one dog bone sample was measured, it would not be accurate to use “there was no statistical difference” to describe the experimental result.
Author Response
see attached
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This study describes mechanical performance of rCF WL mat composites prepared with three different resins.
Please answer following questions
- What are the molecular weight of all three neat polymers used?
- Please explain further how preheating impacts the processing and resulted mechanical properties of the mats
- Fig. 1 - please label the photos
- Since porosity can significantly impact mechanical performance, what factors are influenced by processing temperature to control such voids (Fig. 1)?
- What could be a possible reason for higher moisture content in sheet form than rolls?
- Authors writes that drying impacts tensile/modulus of sheet form by twice. Please explain further how drying improved these properties (para 4.5)
- Please include modulus values of neat polymers used in this study in table 11 or elsewhere in appropriate place for comparison with WL composites.
- Please correct “xx” in line 279.
Author Response
see attached
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Revised manuscript can be accepted for publication in Journal of Composites Science.
