When I build my first carbon frame from recycled carbon fiber, I was mentally already working on a second prototype. The idea was not only using recycled carbon fibers, but also tackling the recycling problem (the reclaiming of the fibers). Surely the frame could be recycled by pyrolysis, but it feels a bit like mowing your lawn with napalm. Don’t get me wrong it is a great solution to deal with all the old composite waste, but now we design with the end of life already in mind and I want to reclaim both at the end: The carbon fibers and the matrix system. The basic idea was to make the tubes from carbon fibers in a thermoplastic matrix like PA-6 and to connect them with 3D-printed metals parts. By that you can reclaim all materials at the end of life. Metals can be recycled and thermoplastics make the recycling also way easier. The concept is quite simple. The modular design is already used in cycling, but everyone keeps using thermosetting resin systems. So to my surprise the idea feels quite revolutionary. But wait, there is more to the concept than just the recycling. Repairs are way easier too. When you have a carbon monocoque frame and you damage it, you have a lot of trouble. Repairs usually include sanding and relaminating of the damaged area, resulting in different material properties and worse fatigue properties. Sometimes you are extremely unlucky and your frame can’t be repaired, so you have to spend another 5000 bucks on a new frame. That really sucks. But now, you can just remove the damaged parts of the frame and substitute it with new parts. That’s way cheaper and also has more long term benefits for your experience. In addition the damaged parts are comparably easy to recycle and can later become part of another frame again. Usually modular frames are bonded together, but that usually adds another material into the mix and complicates the recycling. Also the exchange of damaged parts is compromised. There is a solution to that. Right now I am not ready to talk about it. But I will keep you posted. Until the next time. Philipp♻️ #lifecycle