THERMOFORMING | MACHINERY
Thermoforming goes flat out
Applications in thermoformed parts continue to expand – from packaging and automotive to solar power. Lou Reade reports
As thermoforming becomes faster and more accurate, its influence in the plastics industry is growing. It is now being specified in a wide range of applications, far beyond its traditional market of packaging – though that remains an important area. Total Corbion PLA, for instance, will showcase
some of the capabilities of its bio-based Luminy material at Chinaplas in April – including thermo- forming. The Luminy PLA portfolio includes both high
heat and standard PLA grades and is used in markets from packaging to durable consumer goods and electronics.
Among the highlighted applications is a thermoformed black platter to present foods such as cheese, sushi and hors d’oeuvres. It was devel- oped by Pack & Proper and has been designed to exhibit a slate-like appearance thanks to its surface shape – giving a more exclusive appearance to a disposable application, says Total Corbion.
Honeycomb cores EconCore says that its thermoplastic honeycomb sandwich panel technology – which is based on thermoforming – has been used in a number of new applications recently, including a new design of solar panel. The panel, from Armageddon Energy, is one-
third of the weight of a standard glass equivalent solar panel, due mainly to the design being based on EconCore technology. “The potential of a lightweight, durable solar panel is huge and this development opens up new markets and application perspectives, including those beyond photovoltaics,” said Tomasz Czar- necki, COO of EconCore.
www.filmandsheet.com The substrate is Zytel polyamide from DuPont
that is produced continuously and can be in-line laminated with skin layers (DuPont’s Vizilon thermoplastic composite) to deliver a cost-effective sandwich product uniquely suited to high volume production. The development won a JEC Innova- tion Award in the US last year. EconCore has also helped automotive and
aerospace customers create new products using its technology.
In automotive, Toyota has used EconCore honeycomb technology in the trunk cover of its Prius PHV vehicle. The part was made by Gifu Plastics of Japan, which had previously used the technology to make parts for packaging and logistics applications. The new trunk cover is around half the weight of conventional products made from metal and cardboard, said the company. In aerospace, Diehl Aircabin has used the technology to create lightweight aircraft interior modules as part of the pan-Euro- pean Incom project. The project applies EconCore’s HexTherm process to a special grade of polycarbonate, which has high fire-smoke-toxicity performance. The resultant sandwich structure costs far less than conventional honeycomb solutions based on materials like aramid, said the company. “We are excited about creating mono-material thermoplastic honey- comb sandwich panels that could be very efficiently one-shot thermofor- med and functionalised into final aircraft interior modules,” said Czarnecki.
� March 2018 | FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION 13
Main image: Pack & Proper’s thermoformed platters, made using Luminy PLA, offer a slate-like appearance
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