Plastics News Europe - June 2018 - 17

AUTOMOTIVE

Composite leaf spring

by lightweight sandwich components
and EconCore contributes to this
goal by providing the material and
know-how, e.g. such as the underfloor trunk area for electric cars," said
Pflug.
The Organosandwich material is
ideal for applications requiring lightweight and high stiffness, as is the
case in many structural automotive
components.
"Looking into the future, battery
housings may well become a structural part," said Pflug, "and our material can make it possible."

the extruder, he pointed out. Inline
production of a strong and stiff composite material offers added value,
which EconCore's customers have
been quick to appreciate. As long as

the current trends in automotive continue, the future looks bright, while
in the meantime, the company will
continue to explore other areas for
potential application.

Challenges
EconCore is still facing certain issues
which need to be overcome before its
materials can be applied in areas
where, for example, appearance
counts. "Class A surfaces are still difficult," Pflug admitted. "Surface quality
is a challenge. In the parts mentioned,
this is not an issue, but in others, it is."
This can be addressed, he said, by reducing the size of the honeycomb core
cells. "We can produce honeycomb
cores with a very small cell size - 3 mm
- which results in a perfect support of
the skins and a very good surface quality, even with very thin skins" he explained. "The smaller-sized cells open
up possibilities for other applications,
such as in roofs, which we are now
only starting to look at."
Other plans for the future? What
about expanding capacity, if substantial growth is expected, is that something that will be happening any time
soon?
According to Pflug, EconCore usually teams with its licensees for production. The company has licensed its
technology in countries around the
world. Production is cost efficient, as
the material is extruded directly from

JUNE 2018

Henkel Composite Lab

FULL.

BMB eKW full-electric machines;
with latest control technology and
direct torque servo motors for
optimum moulding of packaging,
technical, medical and disposable
products.
* High Performance
* Fast
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BMB Plastics Machinery Ltd
Unit 215 Wolseley Court
Towers Business Park-Rugeley, Staffs. WS15 1UW
Office: phone +44 (0) 800 093 0418
Nigel.Baker@bmb-spa.com
Stewart.Leng@bmb-spa.com * www.bmb-spa.com/en

PNE_adv_FULL_128x180_maggio_2017.indd 1

19/05/17 11:21

http://www.bmb-spa.com

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