EconCore Partners with MEAF to Develop Laboratory Extruder for Continuous Thermoplastic Honeycomb Production

EconCore is making significant progress in developing new fully thermoplastic seamless honeycomb cells. The developments follow the establishment of fully functional laboratory-scale extrusion, and the company is installing a line at its recently renovated R&D facility in Leuven, Belgium. In Yerseke, Netherlands, a 50 mm extruder line established by MEAF is purpose-built at its core, equipped with a special 500 mm sheet die built by EMO Extrusion Moulds, a specialist in flat dies.

EconCore honeycomb structures are produced from a seamless single thermoplastic layer using the company's patented ThermHex technology. This involves a series of thermal shaping, folding and joining operations.

Through simple equipment and/or process parameter adjustments, the cell size, density and thickness of the honeycomb can be modified. The process allows for sequential bonding of dense facings on one or both sides of the honeycomb to create a highly cost-effective finished composite panel. Before commissioning the new purpose-built extruder, EconCore produced honeycomb formations using unrolled layers from a roll. Wouter Winant, Technical Director at the company, states: "Now we can produce our own sheet on the same axis, we have more flexibility in our processes and frankly it is easier to make changes in material formulations." EconCore and MEAF have worked closely on laboratory extruder design capable of processing polyolefins, bioplastics and polycarbonates, polyamides and high-performance thermoplastics such as polyphenylene sulfide in equal measure. Winant states: "This is an atypical project, but it is very important for our development work." EconCore currently has licensees worldwide producing seamless honeycomb and honeycomb-core laminates primarily in polyolefins, and we intend to continue refining process technology for these materials. The new series was partly designed for this purpose. However, we are expanding the potential of ThermHex technology by enabling use with thermoplastics through superior mechanical and thermal performance, which we call HPTs (High Performance Thermoplastics). Since the processing characteristics of polyolefins differ significantly from those of HPTs, this would normally require the use of a second extruder. But with an extruder designed for this purpose, we have so far achieved excellent results across 10 different polymer types.

The MEAF extruder features a 50-mm barrel holding a screw with an L:D of 34:1, typical for polyolefins. However, it also has superior heating capacity with five zones each rated at 5.8 kW.

Despite this high linear specific power, the extruder is extremely energy-efficient in line with MEAF's philosophy of building extrusion systems with low carbon footprints. An A 600-L dryer for hygroscopic materials is fully integrated into the production system. Maximum output from the extruder is approximately 150 kg per hour. "At EconCore, we have been collaborating with MEAF on several projects for a few years and the results have always been promising," says Tomasz Czarnecki, Chief Operating Officer. "Both our companies have a flexible approach to getting things done and are hungry for success, and we are small to medium-sized, so we do good work together." "ThermHex licensees are not obligated to use MEAF extruders; they see the results this equipment produces and are convinced, but most of the time they choose this option of their own accord." Czarnecki continues: "When combined with cost savings linked to high demand for weight reduction in products and energy-efficient production, the call for innovation is loud and clear, despite low-cost processing within an integrated production process for lightweight material solutions. This is generating momentum for our progress. Following successful commercial developments, we intend to continue our collaboration to take ThermHex technology to the next level with HPTs among others, through our existing, extensive global licensee network and exciting new license projects in the pipeline in industrial packaging, construction, automotive and broader transport sectors and other industries."