Recycled PET honeycomb is now commercially ready and available to licence from EconCore.
The company has successfully conducted two years of research, learning how to optimally process the reusable resource-based polymer into its continuously produced honeycomb core.
The benefit is a substantial fall in CO2, along with the already established CO2 reductions form the honeycomb technology in many transportation applications, due to the fuel and energy savings during the in-service use of lower weight products.
The rPET honeycomb core is typically made from more than 95 per cent recycled PET from a variety of sources such as bottles and food packaging.
It offers an attractive and cost-effective solution, as it does not require much pre-production processing to achieve stable temperature and strength performance outperforming PP honeycombs.
Wouter WInant, Technical Manager at EconCore, said: “Our technology is very flexible and has proven to work with many thermoplastics aleady. Adapting the technology to successfully use PET and rPET honeycomb is another great step forward.”
“By adjusting the content of additives or fillers, we can optimise the performance characteristics.”
“One key aspect of the development journey was the optimisation of the processing methodology and adapting the equipment in order to increase the efficiency of the continuous honeycomb production process.”