Luxus Shows Next Generation Sustainable Thermoplastic (PP) Lightweight Materials At Auto Interior Expo 2015
~~16th June 2015
UK based technical compounder and recycler Luxus, will be showing on stand (A5126) the progress it’s made on the road towards delivering next generation lightweight and sustainable materials to drive tomorrow’s auto interior innovation - the result is Hycolene™ a new sustainable lightweight thermoplastic (PP) range.
Luxus has as part of a consortium recently secured €1.4m investment co-funded by the Eco-innovation initiative of the EU for its Recyclite project (www.recyclite.com). The aim is to commercialise the development of its Hycolene range of lightweight (PP) compounds with up to 60 per cent recycled content to target’s Europe’s class ‘A’ automotive interior trim market.
Luxus will be collaborating on the commercialisation project with twin screw manufacturer Coperion to help with complex processing, tier 1 moulding supplier IAC for materials trials and Jaguar Land Rover. The automotive manufacturer will be providing end user guidance on the project to ensure the technical requirements are met, allowing exploitation of this technology across future automotive industry applications.
Robert Crow, Group Leader , Materials Innovation at Jaguar Land Rover described the Recyclite project as, “A ‘double win’ because the use of recycled material and lower weight of the compounds are both beneficial in Jaguar Land Rover’s programme for reducing the environmental impact of its vehicles.”
Project Manager, Dr Christel Croft at Luxus will be presenting a seminar on the Recyclite project as part of the Interiors Innovation and Design Forum, ‘High performance lightweight recycled polypropylene materials for tomorrow’s auto interiors’ at 11.45am, on Thursday 18th June 2015 at the Auto Interiors Expo 2015.
The key technical benefits of the Hycolene range are as follows:
• Significant weight reduction - up to 12% per part
• Increased recycled content – up to 60% per part
• Excellent stiffness/impact balance and improved scratch resistance
• Similar dimensions – a drop-in solution and colour matching
Peter Atterby, Managing Director, Luxus explains: “We are pleased that the commercial potential of our Hycolene range has been recognised by the EU. This investment has enable us to effectively make a fundamental step change in our technology as we aim to replace our filled compounds with next generation reinforcing additives.
“These additives offer excellent tensile properties that don’t detract from the appearance of the moulded compound, yet their adoption reduces weight by up to 12 per cent per part and significantly improves scratch resistance to meet industry standards.
“The new grades will also offer a lower density than is currently provided, while still delivering up to 60 per cent recycled PP. The result of all this is that tier 1 moulding suppliers will be able to produce more parts per tonne of the mineral as they will benefit from a much faster cycle time. This will offset the slightly higher price these new advanced grades will require.”
Luxus is preparing a patent application for the new advanced polymer technology process. Its capacity however, to produce these compounds will be limited by access to local sources of recyclate PP. So in the future it intends to license its IP of formulations and knowledge to other selected compounders in the EU who have access source assured PP recyclate locally.
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