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Recycling flax fibres from an automotive headliner by alkaline solvolysis: Impact of non-cellulosic polymer removal on mechanical properties
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DOI：10.1016/j.compositesa.2026.110145.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
This study investigates the recycling of flax fibre-reinforced polyurethane (PU) composites from automotive headliners using a two-step process combining supercritical CO2 (ScCO2) delamination and hydrothermal solvolysis. The multilayer headliner structure was first treated in a batch reactor under supercritical CO2. Delamination improved the manual separation of structural layers while preserving the micromechanical properties of flax fibre cell walls. A subsequent solvolysis step performed in a semi-continuous reactor at 200 °C and 250 bar for 1 h in a 0.2 M NaOH aqueous solution enabled almost complete removal of PU ether and MDI from the reinforced layers. Biochemical composition analysis showed a significant increase in the cellulose-relative fraction from 35.6 wt% in the flax preform to 64.7 wt% after solvolysis, confirming efficient matrix removal. Tensile testing of elementary recycled flax fibres revealed a decrease in final apparent tangent modulus of 35.6 % and in tensile strength of 49.7 %. This suggests that the fibres’ overall tensile performance was impacted by ultrastructural damage during solvolysis treatment and composite manufacturing. However, stiffening occurred at the micromechanical scale as evidenced by increases in indentation modulus (+14 %) and hardness (+51 %) resulting from the removal of non-cellulosic components. Despite this decrease, the recovered fibres still exhibited mechanical performances comparable to plant bast fibres such as hemp, making them a valuable resource for use in second life in composite.
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