Valorisation des chutes de fibres de verre produites lors de la fabrication des pales éoliennes comme renforcement pour un polymère d’injection

Abstract

The aim of this project is to demonstrate the recycling potential of wind blade production waste composed of unused glass fibre textiles. These off-cuts, generated during the initial cutting of the glass fibre textile rolls used to mold the blades, have highly variable sizes and geometries, which require a standardization treatment, realized through shredding. This first shredding leads to agglomeration of the glass fibres, which are then subjected to a second size reduction to allow the agglomerates to dissociate. This step can be done in the form of a secondary shredding, leading to short glass fibres, or through milling, leading to a fine glass fibre powder. These two products are then inserted into polypropylene granules to act as reinforcement material at a mass ratio of 20%. The two types of granules generated are PPGF – ÉTS, which uses the short-fibre reinforcement, and PPGF – Coalia, which uses the glass fibre powder reinforcement. These pellets are then characterized thermally, physically, and mechanically. Thermal characterization shows that the addition of glass reinforcement has little impact on polypropylene melting and degradation temperatures. However, the PPGF - ÉTS manufacturing process appears to increase the MFI of the pellets by 48%, indicating some degradation of the polymer matrix. Physical characterization reveals that the actual average pellet mass fiber contents are 23.90% for PPGF - Coalia and 20.1% for PPGF - ÉTS, with average fiber lengths of 0.066 mm and 0.216 mm, respectively. Mechanical characterization of the pellets indicates that the addition of the glass powder slightly (-12.3%) reduces the mechanical strength of PP, but similarly (+14.9%) improves its stiffness. The addition of short glass fibers to PP can be optimised for strength or for stiffness, depending on injection parameters. They can lead to a small increase (+3.5%) in mechanical strength and a large increase (+77.2%) in tensile stiffness. These results demonstrate the potential for recycling glass fibers from wind energy production waste by integrating them into thermoplastic matrices, thereby contributing to a more sustainable approach and reducing the waste sent to landfill.

Date	10 Apr 2025
Original language	French
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Martine Dubé (Supervisor) & Larry Lessard (Co-supervisor)