# Turbine-to-Textile: Upcycling Wind Turbine Blade Waste into High-Performance PAN Composite Fibers

## TL;DR

This paper shows how waste from wind turbine blades can be upcycled into high-performance composite fibers using polyacrylonitrile.

## Contribution

A novel method for upcycling wind turbine blade waste into PAN composite fibers with enhanced mechanical properties.

## Key findings

- Incorporating glass fibers increases the activation energy for cyclization by 17.75% in PAN composites.
- XRD analysis shows crystallinity increases from 46.33% in PAN to 68.56% in PAN-GF composites.
- Glass fibers act as structural templates, promoting PAN chain alignment and microstructural ordering.

## Abstract

Recycling wind turbine blades (WTBs) is challenging due
to their
thermoset glass fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRPs), which resist chemical
and thermal processing. Current methods yield low-value byproducts,
underscoring the urgent need for scalable, high-value upcycling technologies.
This study explores the reinforcement of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) matrix
fibers using glass fibers (GFs) recovered from WTB, aiming to develop
high-performance, sustainable composite materials. A systematic investigation
was conducted to assess the influence of both GF concentration and
layer number on the crystallinity and mechanical properties of PAN
fibers. Structural evolution was characterized using differential
scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and dynamic mechanical
analysis (DMA), while mechanical behavior was evaluated through tensile
testing. For the 256-layered fibers, the incorporation of GF increases
the activation energy for cyclization by 17.75%, rising from 114.36
kJ/mol in pure PAN fibers to 134.56 kJ/mol in PAN-GF composites. XRD
analysis also revealed a significant increase in crystallinity from
46.33% in PAN to 68.56% in PAN-GF. A corresponding increase in crystallite
size was observed, suggesting that GF serves as a structural template,
promoting PAN chain alignment and enhanced microstructural ordering.
This integrated approach demonstrates the effectiveness of incorporating
GF, thereby providing valuable insights into the relationship between
fiber architecture and interfacial engineering while highlighting
a promising pathway for upcycling end-of-life WTB components into
advanced functional materials.