EconCore celebrates 15 years with Gifu Plastic

EconCore is celebrating its 15th year of licensing partnership with Gifu Plastic Industry Co., a specialist producer of polypropylene honeycomb panels.

Gifu Plastic was the first to industrialise EconCore’s patented continuous production thermoplastic honeycomb, a partnership which began in 2006. Specialists in the general manufacture of plastics, Gifu Plastic established themselves in 1953 when the plastics industry was only just starting out.

In 2009 at the New Materials exhibition in Tokyo, Gifu Plastic presented the first further processed panels for logistics and packaging, marketing in Japan under the name TECCELL. Since this launch TECCELL has progressed to become an independent business within Gifu Plastic, engaging a team of 70.

It has developed over time a wide range of applications - next to products used in packaging and logistics – the lightweight panels can be found in automotive interiors, building and construction as well as in a range of design, graphical and industrial applications.

The honeycomb panel is a lightweight and fully recyclable material with high levels of rigidity and multifunctionality. It is competitive not only from the mechanical performance perspective but also due to high level of cost efficiency brought by the EconCore continuous production technology.

This technology allows production from a single continuous thermoplastic honeycomb sheet by successive in-line operations, including in-line integrated lamination of skin layers onto the honeycomb core.

The future for the Gifu Plastic licensee partnership with EconCore will focus on expanding the current range of applications available to the honeycomb technology. Another example of the innovative and creative approach of Gifu Plastic is TECCELL SAINT, a recently developed perforated polypropylene honeycomb panel for improved acoustic performance, they can absorb sound in the midrange and above.

These panels contribute to various noise countermeasures and offer a new range of applications including sound deadening for machinery in factories and office workstations.

EconCore’s patent protected technology for automated continuous production thermoplastic honeycombs is available for licensing. With a number of licensees around the globe, EconCore supports each business in their application development and integration of the thermoplastic honeycomb technologies for a variety of projects.