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Recently, the growth of the recyclability of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites has been driven by environmental and circular economic aspects. The main aim of this research work is to investigate the strength retention of a bio-based vitrimer composite reinforced with carbon fibers, which offers both recyclability and material reusability. The composite formulation consisted of an epoxy resin composed of diglycidyl ether of bioshpenol A (DGEBA) combined with tricarboxylic acid (citric acid, CA) and cardanol, which was then reinforced with carbon fibers to enhance its performance. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were performed to analyze the chemical composition and curing behavior of the vitrimer. Mechanical testing under tensile loading at room temperature was carried out on epoxy, vitrimer, and associated carbon fiber reinforced composite materials. The results demonstrated that the DGEBA/CA/cardanol vitrimer exhibited thermomechanical properties comparable to those of an epoxy cured with petroleum-based curing agents. It was observed that the maximum tensile strength of vitrimer is about 50 MPa, which is very close to the range of epoxy resins cured with petroleum-based curing agents. Notably, the ability of the vitrimer composite to be effectively dissolved in a dimethylformamide (DMF) solvent is a significant advantage, as it enables the recovery of the fibers. The recovered carbon fiber retained comparable tensile strength to that of the fresh carbon composites. More than 95% strength was retained after the first recovery, which confirms the use of fibers for primary and secondary applications. These research results open up new avenues for efficient recycling and contribute to the overall sustainability of the composite material at an economic level.

The paper presents the numerical analysis of failure pressure of wall loss defect metallic pipelines and validate it with experimental results. An optimization of composite thickness for repair of wall loss defect pipeline is also carried out using numerical analysis. A nonlinear explicit FE code with constitutive models for metallic steel and composite material to failure modelling was used. Three different cases: non-defective pipe, wall loss defective pipe and composite repaired of defective pipe are considered. It was found that the numerical results are in good agreement with the analytical results in all the three cases. The theoretical failure pressure determined by ISO/TS 24817 standard for wall loss defect pipe is highly conservative compared to the numerical failure pressure for the given composite repair thickness. Additionally, the numerical study on optimization of repair thickness revealed that lower composite repair thickness can also sustain the designed failure pressure (composite repair thickness of 8.4 mm can sustain the same designed pressure instead of 16.1 mm thickness), which implies there is scope to further reduce the composite thickness, which ultimately reduce the repair cost.

The main aim of this work is to predict the theoretical burst pressure of defective pipelines using different semi-empirical models and compare them with the results of the hydrostatic tests. A methodology was formulated with accounting for a minimum thickness (weakest section of the pipe) over the length of the pipe to predict the most conservative burst pressure. With a simple analytical expression, a reasonable accuracy and more conservative burst pressure can be obtained for any arbitrary defect shapes. A variation of burst pressure was found between theoretical prediction and hydrostatic burst test results with respect to the different semi-empirical models even for the same corroded defects. Different defect geometry shapes and pipe material conditions are the possible causes for variation in the burst pressure between the semi-empirical models, so a careful selection of these parameters is necessary. The proposed methodology predicted a more conservative burst pressure for all arbitrary defects shapes and can predict reasonably accurate values if it accounts for the axial stress.

The main aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a composite repair system in severely corroded circumferential welds in super duplex stainless steel pipes as a preventive measure against the premature corrosion damage at the welds. Artificial defects were fabricated on the super duplex steel tube in order to reproduce the localized corrosion damage defects found in real welded joints. Three kinds of through thickness defects were considered: 25%, 50% and 96% of the perimeter of the pipe. The performance of the repaired pipe was assessed by hydrostatic tests as per ISO 24817 standard. The results showed that the composite repair system can sustain the designed failure pressure even for the pipe damaged with through-wall defect up to 96% of the perimeter of the pipe. Hence, the composite repair system can be used as a preliminary tool to protect the unexpected or premature failure at the welds and maintain an adequate level of mechanical strength for a given operating pressure. This composite repair system can assure that the pipe will not leak until a planned maintenance of the line. Nevertheless, further work is still desirable to improve the confidence in the long-term performance of bonded composite