AUTOMOTIVE | INNOVATION


precise colour-matching to ensure interior visual harmony with the selected grain form to satisfy the design needs of this latest model. “During the material development and approval


phase, considerable dialogue was undertaken between Nissan and our in-house Technical Centre in Lincolnshire, UK, with Renault’s production team joining as parts became available for the initial vehicle build trials.” Following pre-production testing and moulding


trials at the Flins factory, the Luxus PP grade was colour matched to meet the specification agreed for the Micra’s back door inner moulding part and other components. Luxus said its sustainable PP materials were also featured on a number of standard clips and harness protectors that were produced by UK based Tier 1 and 2 suppliers. “The overall physical property balance was a high priority, but one of the benefits from the Luxus material was that it delivered superior scratch resistance since it was the fifth generation of this particular grade,” says Ellis. A growing number of compounders are adding


grades with recycled content to their portfolios. In February, Teknor Apex announced the availability in Europe of its Chemlon 500 Series products which are based on recycled polyamide 66. The company has facilities in Germany, the US and Singapore which produce reinforced and specially modified compounds of PA 6, 66, 610, and 612 in the Chemlon range. “The assured quality of Chemlon 500 Series compounds is based on our broad experience with polyamides, both virgin and recycled,” says Michael Roberts, Vice President in charge of the Engineering Thermoplastics Division of Teknor Apex. “These compounds process with a high degree of lot-to-lot consistency and yield finished products that exhibit good surface appearance and dimensional stability.” Polyamides form the largest group of engineer- ing plastics used in automotive parts and, like polyolefins, they are the subject of increasing R&D in the recycled polymer arena. At the NPE show in May, Vertellus launched Zemac Link NP, a compati- biliser additive for PA and PET (see Plastics Recycling World May-June 2018). The potential for recycled PET to substitute PA is also being explored by a new research project in Germany. The partners in the UpcyclePET project are Easicomp, the Fraunhofer Institute for


Structural Durability and System Reliability (LBF), and the Institute for Applied Ecology (Öko-Institut). Volker Strubel, coordinator of the project, says: “With this upcycling we are creating lightweight components out of fibre-


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


Properties of three recycled polyamide compounds ISO


Test


Typical Properties Density, g/cm3


Tensile stress, MPa


Mold Shrinkage – Flow Tensile modulus, GPa


Tensile elongation at break, % Flexural modulus, GPa


Notched Izod impact (-40˚C), KJ/m2 Notched Izod impact (23˚C), KJ/m2 Notched Charpy impact (23˚C), KJ/m2 CLTE – Flow (mm/mm/˚C)


Deflection temperature under load (1.8 MPa, unannealed), ˚C


Flame rating (0.0319 in) Source: Teknor Apex Company


reinforced recycled PET, and are thus reducing the use of glass fibre reinforced polyamides typically applied in the production of automotive parts, for example engine mounts or cross members.” In the project, recycled PET bottles are used as


the raw material. A pultrusion process is used in order to reinforce the PET with long glass fibres to upgrade the PET to a more technical level, combin- ing the mechanical advantages of the long glass fibres with the properties of PET, such as lower swelling capacity and good dimensional stability. “This approach combines two processing steps that are separated in modern practice and custom- izes the properties of the recycling PET by chemical modifications and suitable addition of additives,” says Frank Schönberger from Fraunhofer LBF. The partners say production is cost effective, since all necessary processing steps are completed in one manufacturing plant.


CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: � www.volvocars.com � www.albis.com � www.ict.fraunhofer.de � www.vanscherpenzeel.com � www.akg.nl (Veolia Polymers) � www.plasticsindustry.org � www.geo-tech.com � www.midlandcompounding.com � www.repsol.com � www.luxus.co.uk � www.nissan-global.com � www.teknorapex.com � www.easicomp.de � www.lbf.fraunhofer.de � www.oeko.de


July/August 2018 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 33


Method 1183


527 1/2 294-3/4 527 1/2 527 1/2 178


180-1A 180-1A 179


11359-2 75-2 –


1.11 58


2.0 2.5 30


2.3 13


17.0 17.5


7.0x10-5 60 HB 1.4


150 0.1


10.5 3.0 8.3 6.5 7.0 6.5


2.8x10-5 235 HB


Chemlon 500 Series PA66 Compounds 507H


533 GH 504-13 GH 33% Glass 15% Glass


1.2 93


0.6 4.8 5.0 3.8 4.5 8.0 7.0


3.8x10-5 210 HB


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