EconCore, a sustainable honeycomb sandwich material producer, has installed a new production line for the manufacturing of its lightweight honeycombs based on recycled PET (RPET).
Contributing to a circular economy, EconCore’s latest production line will have the capability to produce the sustainable honeycomb cores up to 1.2m wide. The RPET honeycomb cores are manufactured using up to 100% recycled post-consumer and post-industrial waste and can be laminated with conventional FRPs to form sandwich panels and parts. When made in combination with PET or PET composite skins, the honeycombs deliver a fully recyclable and lightweight panel solution.
The new production line can also be used by the company to process other thermoplastic materials including polycarbonate, polyamide or polyetherimide (high-performance-thermoplastics, HPT).
“The demand for development of sustainable material solutions is very evident these days and it runs through the DNA of EconCore,” said Tomasz Czarnecki, chief operations officer, EconCore. “Over the past years we have been extending the range of applications of our PP honeycomb technology where its cost and weight efficiency, combined with excellent recyclability, were allowing for dynamic market evolutions.
“Then, recognizing the global problem of agglomerated PET waste, we decided to optimize the technology toward RPET materials. This development was immediately recognized – we just won the European Green Award and were awarded the prestigious Solar Impulse Label. But most rewarding is the interest we receive from the industry.
“We are already engaged in development programs over a wide spectrum of applications where the cost, weight and sustainability are of critical importance. With the RPET honeycomb technology, not only are the various industries able to improve their own impact on the environment by stripping out weight in transport, for example, but also the EconCore’s energy efficient production process itself brings benefits with regard to carbon footprint positioning. It is a win all round.”
