JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #119 - Supplement lnnovation report - 18

JEC WORLD 2018

3-in-1 line for recycled composites manufacturing
Our innovation concerns a recycling line
for both thermoplastics and thermoplastic composite materials which is unique
in Europe.
It is the only one which allows to produce from waste large-scale panels having maximized mechanical performances
comprised between short fiber injected
plastics and continuous reinforced thermoplastic composite materials.
Our innovation is based on a thermomechanical and "step by step" process and
enables to recover:
- either composite waste (Thermosaïc®
route): recovery of production scrap
and/or end-of-life waste, sorted and
crushed beforehand, then shredded.
The shreds are bound by thermocompression into the shape of structural
panels,
- or recycled plastic material associated with fibrous reinforcements
(ThermoPRIME® route) : production
from recycled plastics of new materials

with a higher technical and economic
value.

Finalist: CETIM-CERMAT (France)
Partners: CETIM (France)

This line is composed of:
- a central fixed element incorporating a
heating module and a press with tooling, the whole being fed by a conveyor
system,
- interchangeable feeding modules depending upon the type of waste to recover (Thermosaïc®: shreds feeding
modules ThermoPRIME®: modules
that serve to unwind films and reinforcements)
- a cutting tool allowing dividing the panels at the requested length after consolidation (the panels being produced in
long lengths in a continuous manner).
The line can also be implemented with a
specific module to make stamped parts
from the composite panels obtained both
by Thermosaïc® and ThermoPRIME®
processes.This pilot line, which pre-fig

ure what will be the future industrial
lines in a few years, has been installed and
commissioned on a new R&D platform
within CETIM-CERMAT in Mulhouse
(France).

Loop650 sustainable cradle to cradle sailing boat
Loop 650 wants to be an example of industrial circular economy for the composite industry.
The aim of the project was to minimize the overall embodied energy and
to identify solutions and technologies
that would allow zero-landfill manufacturing, including a sustainable and
cradle to cradle end of life recycling.
The resin is bio-based epoxy resin with
very low emissions during manufacturing and very low embodied energy.
For this first prototype the resin will
not be recycled and will be burned
through a pyrolysis process at end of
life to allow clean fiber to be recovered.
This process was verified at lab scale.

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The fiber recovered was successfully
re-melted into the same original raw
mineral, ready to be stretched into new
virgin fiber.
All manufacturing waste were recovered and recycled into new chopped
strand mat to be re-used for new
moulds and non structural parts, maintaining the cradle to cradle recyclability of the fiber. In the life cycle of the
combination of materials identified
of the task, the recycled fiber cleaned
form the matrix feeds back into the
original material value chain with no
downgrade.
Thank you to the specific manufacturing process of the mineral fiber used as

jec composites magazine / N° 119 supplement - Innovation Report

Finalist: GS4C srl (Italy)
Partners: Entropy Resins (Spain),
isomatex (Belgium), Diab (Sweden),
GIVIDI Fabrics (Italy), Cormatex (Italy)

reinforcement for the composite, the
recovered material is exactly the same
as the one manufactured from virgin
raw material.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #119 - Supplement lnnovation report
