SUSPENS project shares one-year progress, next steps

From Jan. 23-24, 2024, SUSPENS project partners met to share their progress, one year after project launch, and to collectively agree on next steps for 2024. SUSPENS is tackling the challenge of reducing the environmental footprint of sandwich composite and hollow structures manufacture for the automotive, nautical leisure and aeronautics industries. The meeting, hosted by Forvia in Saint-Malo, France, was rounded off by a visit to Forvia plant in Saint-Méloir des Ondes where automotive equipment in composites are manufactured mainly for high-end cars.

The first year of SUSPENS was mainly dedicated to material development. SUSPENS’ objective is to develop resins with more than 95% bio-sourced epoxy and polyester, combined with sustainable reinforcements made with natural fibers and recycled carbon and glass fibers. Partners explored various formulations of epoxy and polyester resins, analyzing their different mechanical performances while considering the three manufacturing applications targeted by SUSPENS (automotive, aerospace and leisure boat industries). Prototype cellulose and carbon fibers have also been produced, and a composite panel demonstrator realized. Furthermore, discussions on recycling approaches and life cycle assessment (LCA) for composites elements took place between partners.

An advisory board has also been established to follow SUSPENS project implementation, provide guidance and knowledge and contribute with industry insights. This board is composed of five experts:

• Sigrid Ter Heide, global market development manager at Westlake (Netherlands)
• Cristian Lira, principal research engineer at the National Composites Center (NCC, U.K.)
• Thierry Renault, senior expert composites at Faurecia (France)
• Thierry Chantraine, innovation officer and Stéphane LeDiraison, skipper and engineer Skywin (France).

The next few months will be devoted to validating materials performance by coupon testing, with the aim to select the best candidate resins and fibers, with regards to the requirements set by the industrial partners of the project. Environmental impacts, ingredients availability and ability to be produced in large quantities at a competitive cost will also be studied.

Most SUSPENS partners will be present at JEC World 2024.