JEC World 2022, Part 2: Recycling, natural fibers and additive manufacturing

The official theme of JEC World 2022 (Paris, France, May 3-5, 2022) was “sustainability,” and that was certainly evident in the many recycling and natural fiber based products on display.

Below are summaries of several new technologies and products I had the chance to see at the show. For more of CW’s JEC World coverage, see show recaps from CW editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan (coming soon) and senior editor Ginger Gardiner, and our on-site video recaps from the show floor.

Pressure vessel recycling research

National Composites Centre

During JEC World 2022, the National Composites Centre (NCC, Bristol, U.K.) announced success in a new project with partners Cygnet Texkimp (Northwich, U.K.) and Longworth (Edgworth, U.K.). Using Longworth’s DEECOM pressurized steam-based recycling process, launched at the show by the technology’s commercial distributor Cygnet Texkimp, NCC engineers reclaimed continuous carbon fibers from a recycled pressure vessel and demonstrated that these fibers remained intact enough to be remanufactured into a new pressure vessel. Next steps of the NCC’s research include analysis of the reclaimed material and recycled pressure vessel. The project is part of the NCC’s larger hydrogen program.

 

Rapid moldmaking with large-scale additive manufacturing

Massivit 3D

Large-scale 3D printing systems provider Massivit 3D Printing Technologies Ltd. (Lod, Israel) held a press event and live demonstrations of its Massivit 10000 additive manufacturing (AM) system for rapid mold production. Using the company’s Cast In Motion (CIM) technology, the gel-dispensing printing head prints an outer sacrificial shell and casts an epoxy casting material inside that shell. The structure can be oven cured and is then submerged in plain water where the water-breakable shell crumbles away, leaving the epoxy mold for use in composite part manufacturing.

The machine on display at the company’s JEC World 2022 stand was sold to customer Lyons Industries, a U.S.-based luxury bath ware specialist. The system is said to reduce the toolmaking process time by up to 80%. Example tools on display at the show included a motorbike fairing mold built in less than 24 hours, a car hood mold built in 57.5 hours, a race car seat mold built in 42 hours and more.

 

“Smart” recycling technology for carbon fiber scrap and EOL parts

Fairmat

Recycling startup company Fairmat (Paris, France) was one example of new recycling technology developments on display at the show. Fairmat, which has recently announced several partnerships with companies such as Hexcel for recycling prepregs, and Siemens Gamesa, Duqueine and Tarmac Aerosave for recycling of wind blades and aircraft, displayed the tape-like carbon fiber “bricks” that result from its proprietary recycling process, which can be reformed using new resin for new applications. Fairmat says it has developed an automation-based, dust-free cutting and fiber placement technology for processing composites manufacturing scrap or EOL parts into reusable materials at a constant quality. Key to its technology is an ability to use sensors and machine learning to better track and understand the properties of the materials being processed, which Fairmat calls “smart recycling.”

 

Emphasizing waste-free processing, recycled materials, natural fibers

Demgy

On display in the Natural Fibers village, plastics solutions provider Demgy (Saint-Aubin-sur-Gaillon, France) emphasized new R&D and commercial capabilities in zero-waste processes, use of natural fibers and recycled materials. On display included the Decathlon Traxium soccer shoes, made with recycled thermoplastic materials, a bicycle saddle and helmets made from natural fiber composites and a concept aerospace console built for Airbus Atlantic in partnership with Stelia Composite. The console was built from glass fiber/polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) organosheet in a combination of automated stampforming with injection overmolding.

 

Recycled CF nonwovens for automotive structural components, other applications

Gen 2 Carbon

Gen 2 Carbon (Coseley, U.K.), manufacturer of nonwovens from recycled carbon fiber scrap, demonstrated the growing uses and demand for its products in automotive, wind, batteries and other market areas. Gen 2 Carbon’s technology involves waterjet cutting and pyrolysis to reclaim long fibers from aerospace and automotive scrap materials for repurposing into nonwoven fabrics. The company plans to continue expanding its operations to meet growing demands.

On display at its JEC World stand, the company’s G-TEX M recycled nonwovens were used to build the structural body side and body exterior of the Lightyear One long-range solar car, built by partner Prodrive Composites (Milton Keynes, U.K.). According to Gen 2 Carbon, use of recycled materials in this application allows for lightweight and high performance while also reducing materials costs and environmental footprint compared to use of virgin carbon fiber.

 

Colored carbon fiber for sporting goods applications and more

Hypetex

Hypetex (London, U.K.), manufacturer of colored carbon fiber and other fabrics, demonstrated growing use of its technologies as a lightweight, sustainable paint replacement for sporting goods and, soon, automotive applications. Hypetex materials currently are available in twill, plain weave, spread tow and unidirectional (UD) fabric formats, with new materials such as tapes and 3D printing filaments in development.

One application on display at the show was a field hockey stick developed with Adidas, that was a finalist for a JEC Composites Innovation Award. In this application, Hypetex worked with the manufacturing partner in the design and development of the part as well as providing the colored spread tow fabric and microcell epoxy core.

 

Natural fibers in new markets

Bcomp

Flax fiber materials specialist Bcomp (Fribourg, Switzerland) emphasized growing interest in and use of natural fiber composites for commercial applications, including a recent partnership with BMW Group working toward serial automotive components, and several flax fiber composite-intensive boats on display at the show.

Also on display in Bcomp’s stand was a motorbike brake cover that won a 2022 JEC Composites Innovation Award in the sports, leisure and recreation category. Developed with partner KTM Technologies (Niederalm, Austria), the brake cover demonstrates use of KTM’s Conexus coupling technology to bond a flax fiber composite structure to a PA6 thermoplastic part.