Econcore’s new honeycomb cores made with SABIC resin

The new honeycomb core presents higher heat performance, better dimensional stability and lower water absorption compared to honeycomb structures made with traditional thermoplastics. These properties enable the new core material to be used in demanding applications such as certain automotive, e-mobility and photovoltaic components. Furthermore, combining this new honeycomb core with thermoplastic composite skins to produce an all-thermoplastic sandwich panel can facilitate recycling. These desirable performance attributes and enhanced sustainability can open new market and application opportunities for EconCore honeycombs made with NORYL GTX resin.

“We turned to SABIC for expert assistance in enhancing our honeycomb cores with high-performance thermoplastics to expand our product’s use in a range of applications and overcome the limitations of incumbent materials,” said Tomasz Czarnecki, chief operations officer, EconCore. “Our many years of collaboration with SABIC and the company’s broad materials portfolio gave us high confidence in the success of this initiative. We have been very impressed with NORYL GTX resin’s ease of use in conversion and appreciated the fact that it works well in our existing equipment. We believe its well-balanced properties will allow honeycomb cores to be used more widely in transportation, clean energy and e-mobility applications.”

Thermoplastic honeycomb structures deliver a high performance-to-weight ratio and efficient energy absorption under impact. The rigidity of honeycomb sandwich panels is known to exceed that of monolithic materials, including solid composites. Also, sandwich structures are an effective means of reducing mass in a wide range of weight-sensitive applications. Combined with an effective, in-line integrated sandwich panel production technology, this weight reduction has positive implications for overall production cost savings and environmental responsibility.

In addition to reducing raw material use, the honeycombs support recyclability. Combining the PPE-based core structures with thermoplastic composites skins, such as those based on nylon, can result in a recyclable and sustainable solution.

Furthermore, sandwich panels made exclusively with thermoplastics can be efficiently processed into finished parts with complex geometries using compression molding processes, which can help reduce cycle times.

According to EconCore, its new honeycomb structures deliver higher heat performance, greater dimensional stability and lower water absorption than alternative materials such as nylon. Due to this high performance, the cores may also demonstrate good compatibility with thermoset composite skins. Because the honeycomb exhibits high load-bearing capacity even at temperatures up to 180°C, it may be a good candidate for lamination with thermoset prepregs in processing environments where high curing temperatures are typically applied. The honeycomb can also potentially be used for applications where sandwich panels must deliver high performance at elevated temperatures.

www.econcore.com