Efficient degradation of amine cured epoxy resin via the cleavage of C-N bond by amphiphilic dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid

Amine-cured epoxy resin (EP) is often compounded with carbon fiber (CF) used for wind power blades due to its excellent performance. However, the insolubility and infusibility of service-life-expired carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resin (CFREP) hinder its sustainable recycling. We reported a new strategy for efficient degradation of EP and CFREP with 0.5 mol% amphiphilic dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBSA) in aqueous system. It was found that the strong lipophilicity of DBSA accelerated its enrichment on EP surface, and further promoted the diffusion of DBSA and H 2 O to the resin bulk phase. As a result, the degradation ratio of the EP powder reached 100 % at 190 °C only in 10 h. The characterization of FT-IR and NMR proved that the degradation mechanism of EP was the selective cleavage of C-N bond catalyzed by H + . The resin degradation products (RDP) containing active hydrogen were used to prepare polyurethane (PU) with good mechanical properties . This method achieves complete recycling of waste CFREP in aqueous systems.