Plastics News Europe - June 2018 - 15

AUTOMOTIVE

about mass production? "We are
working on that. We are confident
that we will get there; in fact, we
have to - a car has four wheels, so
that is a lot of products."
Henkel, he said is developing a
complete portfolio based on the
technology. "We can offer even higher temperature resistance, depending
on the needs regarding chemical and
mechanical performance."

Konrad Brimo Hayek:
"Composites as a
whole are driving
integration into
the chassis. The
force behind this
development are the
Tier 1 suppliers"

What's next?
The interest in the use of composites
for structural components has dwindled, at least in Europe. By contrast, it
has grown in Asia, and specifically in
China, where the use of these materials is being investigated - 'for the
local industry', stressed Brimo Hayek.
In Europe, the focus is on springs,
stabilizers, wheels and such. "It will
be interesting to see what the effect
of electrical mobility will be," he
commented.
Henkel has a very strong footprint in the automotive industry.
However, the direction mobility will
be taking in the future is still uncertain, and this has impacted the
'composites view'. "What is important is to identify the important topics -and the challenge is to find the

right component to concentrate
on," said Brimo Hayek. "But we still
see good perspectives in looking at
components to shift to Tier 1."

The sandwich solution
Like Henkel, EconCore is strongly positioned in the automotive market, or
more accurately, in the transport sector as a whole. "Trucks, cars, caravans
- our products are used in a wide

range of transport applications," said
Jochen Pflug, CEO at EconCore.
EconCore has developed and patented technology to produce honeycomb structures from a single continuously extruded thermoplastic film,
that then serve as cores in sandwich
panels. The company produces honeycomb cores from various types of

➡ Continued on page 16

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