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The benefit is that CO2 has dropped significantly, while cellular technology has achieved CO2 emissions reductions in many transportation applications, due to the savings in fuel and energy during the use of lighter weight products.  

With recycled PET honeycomb cores, with the widespread use of collected plastics (including bottle-grade rPET flakes), the use of ecological alternative core materials offers excellent potential. Compared with traditional thermoplastic core materials, it also has excellent temperature resistance and mechanical properties.

The company's rPET honeycomb core is usually made of more than 95% recycled PET, which comes from various sources, such as bottles and food packaging. This is a cost-effective solution because it does not require much pre-production processing to obtain better stability, temperature and strength properties than PP honeycombs.

Wouter Winant, Technical Manager of EconCore, said: "Our technology is very flexible and has proven to be used with many thermoplastics. Adjusting the technology to successfully use PET and rPET honeycombs is another big step forward. By adjusting additives or With filler content, we can optimize performance characteristics.

"A key aspect of the development process is to optimize processing methods and adjust equipment to increase the efficiency of the continuous honeycomb production process. We work closely with MEAF partners, who have developed and modified the machines to achieve the results we want." MEAF for The global packaging and plastics processing industry in the Netherlands designs, develops and manufactures extruders.

MEAF Technical Director Ardjan Houtekamer said: “We have worked closely with EconCore’s technical team for several months to improve the machine to achieve the best production speed. With EconCore’s high throughput, the sheet extruder we have developed is currently on the market. One of the most efficient extruders, with a throughput of up to 1,200 kilograms per hour, and only 0.20 kWh per kilogram."

Using honeycomb cores with better thermal and strength properties than PP honeycombs can benefit many applications.

Winant said: "This is a very attractive proposal for licensees of our technology. When you consider the global problem of plastic waste and the urgent need to better protect the environment, use a honeycomb core based on recycled PET There is no doubt that it is a sustainable solution for the mass production market, including automobiles, general ground transportation, packaging and furniture."

ThermHex technology plays an important role in enabling the use of honeycomb materials in cost-sensitive applications. Applications include the side walls of delivery trucks and trailers, parcel shelves and other vehicle interiors, roof tops, trunk/trunk floor and other interior panels. It can also be used for concrete casting molds and exterior wall panels in commercial buildings and construction fields. There are countless other potential applications that can use this technology to reduce cost and weight while maintaining or increasing strength.

PET is one of the most widely used plastics in the world, especially for bottles and food packaging. The bottle industry is now reusing transparent bottles, but this leaves a large amount of colored waste PET around the world. For some products, appearance is important. With EconCore's technology, the aesthetic considerations of the honeycomb core inside the sandwich panel are not important.

Winant said: "Everyone at EconCore is very supportive of finding ways to recycle and reuse plastic waste. This is a huge global problem. Through research and innovation, EconCore can play a small role in solving some of the problems. Cost-effective, better, and more powerful products, we know this will be attractive to many industry sectors."

EconCore's rPET honeycomb core will be used in a project of the Eindhoven University of Technology, which will design and build a road-legal car made entirely of waste, recyclable and biodegradable materials by June 2020. EconCore is the gold sponsor of the project, and its products will be used in the chassis. The project is called Luca and is part of a project called TU/ecomotive.

Although the company can now use EconCore technology to license rPET to produce honeycomb core sandwich panels and parts, the development work does not end there.

Winant concludes: "We will continue to push boundaries and target more demanding applications. The research is endless. We have been learning how to adapt our technology to small, high-profile applications, such as rail transportation and aerospace. In applications, strength and light weight are important, and materials from renewable resources are required to reduce carbon dioxide emissions."

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