We demonstrate a new recycling technology using simple equipment and nontoxic electrolyte to reclaim intact carbon fibers.

Aluminium alloys are nonlinear metallic materials with rounded stress-strain curves that are not well represented by the simplified elastic-perfectly plastic material model used in most existing design specifications. Departing from current practice, the continuous strength method (CSM) is a recently developed design approach for aluminium alloy structures, which gives consideration to strain hardening for non slender sections. The CSM is a deformation-based method and employs a base curve to define the continuous relationship between cross-section slenderness and deformation capacity. This paper explains the background and the two key components of the CSM: (1) the base curve, which is extended herein such that the method covers both non-slender and slender sections and (2) the strain hardening material model. Three international design specifications from America, Australia/New Zealand and Europe, as well as the CSM are compared with approximately 900 aluminium alloy experimental and numerical results. Reliability analyses have been carried out to assess the reliability level of different design methods according to both the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and European Standard (EN 1990) approaches. Finally, worked examples of the CSM for aluminium alloy stub columns and continuous beams are illustrated in this paper. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aluminum alloys are used in a wide range of engineering applications and are gaining increasing usage in the construction sector, offering high strength-to-weight ratios and good durability. In this paper, a series of stub-column tests on aluminum alloy box sections with and without internal cross stiffeners is carried out to investigate cross-section capacity and to explore the possible exploitation of strain hardening in design. All existing stub-column test results from the literature were also collected. A database containing the results from 346 tests on aluminum alloy stub columns of box, channel, and angle sections, with a wide range of cross-section slendernesses, was formed. The test strengths were compared with the design strengths predicted by the current American, Australian/New Zealand, and European specifications. Furthermore, the test strengths were compared with those predicted by the deformation-based continuous strength method (CSM). Following reliability analyses, the design strengths predicted by the three current design specifications were found to be generally conservative, whereas the CSM offered improved design capacities, owing to its allowance for strain hardening

Two series of simply supported bending tests on aluminium alloy square and rectangular hollow sections have been performed. The test program comprised 14 three-point bending tests and 15 four-point bending tests. The test specimens were fabricated by extrusion from grades 6061-T6 and 6063-T5 heat-treated aluminium alloys, with width-to-thickness ratios ranging from 2.8 to 20.5. Measured geometric and material properties, together with the full load–deflection histories from the test specimens, were reported. Observed failure modes included local buckling, material yielding and tensile fracture. Further experimental data were gathered from the literature. Finite element (FE) models were developed and validated against the test results, and then used to perform parametric studies, in which a total of 132 numerical results were generated. The experimental and numerical results were used to evaluate the bending resistance provisions of the American [1], Australian/New Zealand [2] and European [3] Specifications, as well as the continuous strength method (CSM). The moment capacities predicted by the three design specifications were found to be generally conservative, while the CSM provided more accurate and more consistent predictions due to the recognition and systematic exploitation of strain hardening