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Climate change and the transport revolution are demanding smart fiber-reinforced composite solutions. In sectors such as the marine industry, infrastructure, and rail vehicle construction, many different fire protection concepts are competing. The composites industry is paying increased attention to recycling.

Fiber-Reinforced Composites Drive Innovation in the Transport and Construction Sectors

Composite-Halbzeuge

Glasfasern / -matten

Kohlenstofffasern / -matten

Sekundärfasern

Fasern

Faserverarbeitung

Faserverbundwerkstoffe

Composites Are Trendsetters in Lightweight Design

Bio-based plastics can lock away vast quantities of CO<sub>2</sub> in durable, recyclable applications and make a real contribution to climate protection. All that is needed for this is the right product design and a functioning circular economy. By focusing more on this approach, the plastics sector has the chance to evolve into a key industry of a green economy.

How Bio-Based Polymers Can Help Sequester CO<sub>2</sub> for the Long Term

Kunststoffe, biobasiert

Recycling

Biokunststoffe

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Kunststoff

Kunststoffe, bioabbaubar

Kunststofffasern

Kunststoff-Recycling

Into the Future with Biopolymers

Organo sheets have become established in several industrial sectors for the series production of highly stressed lightweight components. The utilization of waste material is a promising recycling approach.

Feeding Mechanically Recycled Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastics Back to Production

Mahlgut

Organobleche (gewebeverstärkte Thermoplast-Halbzeuge)

Mahlen

Organo Sheet Recycling

In this interview with Kunststoffe, Alfred Stern, CEO of Borealis, explains why he considers fixed recycling quotas to be necessary and why voluntary commitments do not work.

Alfred Stern, CEO of Borealis, Talks about the Circular Economy

Schröder, Susanne

Streifinger, Florian

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

“Unfortunately, the Only Globally Accepted Ideology Is Money”

With Newcycling, multi-polymer and multi-layer plastic packaging, that previously could not be recycled, can now be separated and processed into homogeneous regrind using ZSK twin screw extruders.

APK Relies on Newcycling Processes

Polyethylen

Polyamide

Extruder

Extrusionsanlagen für KU-Verarbeitung

How to Make Plastic Compounds out of Packaging Waste

Composite materials are often the key to lightweight design for many applications. However, these hybrid materials face a major challenge where recycling is concerned.

A Research Project Highlights the Recycling Potential of Lightweight Composites

Anlagen zur Composite-Herstellung

Spritzprägen

Bruchmechanische Prüfung

Verbundwerkstoffe / Werkstoffverbunde

Harzsysteme für Composite-Herstellung

UD-Tapes

Presswerkzeuge, Kunststoff

Pressen von Kunststoffen

Qualitätssicherung Kunststoff

Zero-Waste Concept for Carbon SMC

The non fossil fuel-based portfolio offers same high quality and performance for applications in all industries.

Gehäuse aus Kunststoff

Polystyrol

Standardkunststoffe

Polypropylen

Kunststoff-Regenerate

Borealis Launches Portfolio of Circular Polyolefins

The availability of PET bottle flake outside the beverage sector is expected to decline continuously in the coming years. Tray-to-tray recycling can close this gap and succeeds particularly easily with a new extruder.

Polyester

Blasfolienextrusion

Flachfolien- und Plattenextrusion

Polyethylenterephthalat

Folien

Unique PET Tray-to-Tray Recycling in a Single Extrusion Step

Twin-screw extruders enable even contaminated post-consumer polystyrene to be depolymerized continuously and efficiently. This opens up a promising recycling route in terms of industrial implementation via renewed polymer synthesis to produce plastic granules with a quality approaching that of virgin material.

A Robust Continuous Process for the Chemical Recycling of Polystyrene

Extrusionsanlagen

Turning Old into New

The Danish company Plastix recycles old fishing nets and ropes. The granules produced are used by JSP International, among others, to manufacture expanded polypropylene (EPP).

Expanded Polypropylene from Maritime Plastic Waste

Schaumstoffe und Vorprodukte

Schaumstoffe

Polypropylen-Compound

From Fishing Net to Particle Foam

The central issue in all polyurethane applications is the conversion from the past linear economy into a circular economy, and the use of sustainable raw materials in manufacturing. To do so, manufacturers are taking measures such as using bio-based raw materials, chemical recycling, and CO2 as a synthesis component. Digitalization, electromobility, autonomous driving and the construction industry are also driving PU development.

Polyurethane (PU)

Bauwesen

Bauchemie

Baustoffe

Automotive

Polyurethan-Schaumstoffe (PUR)

Baubetrieb / Bauwirtschaft

Polyurethan

Windkraft

Sustainable Growth

Lightweight construction, functionality and design are characteristic of material development in all areas of application for PC compounds, composites and films. The range of materials has enormous opportunities when it comes to the mobility of the future, lightweight structural construction with continuous fiber-reinforced composites, 5G technology and medical technology.

Polycarbonate (PC)

Technische Kunststoffe

Medizintechnik

Polycarbonat

Medizinprodukte

Present in a Multitude of Trends

Because of its good temperature resistance, impact resistance and aesthetics appearance, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene is often used in household goods and in the automotive industry. The development of a circular economy also shows successes.

Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS)

Elektronik

ABS / ASA-Kunststoffe

Plastics processors have a wide range of colors at their disposal to color their products. Choosing the right color can ultimately be the key to success. But colors are just as subject to trends as materials and designs. Kunststoffe asked manufacturers of pigments, masterbatches, and colorants which colors would be particularly popular in the coming year.

Trend Report on the Coloration of Plastics

Pigmente

Pigmente, bunt

Masterbatches

Farbstoffe und Pigmente

Farbkonzentrate (Batches)

Farbstoffe

Effektpigmente

Additive

Farben, flüssig

What Will Be the Color of 2021?

Plastic waste in the sea has been shaping the negative image of the industry for several years. Various initiatives and mergers of companies have therefore launched projects to tackle this Ocean-bound Plastics (OBP). Components made of OBP could become a symbol for a sustainable use of plastics.

Flame Retardant for Compounds Based on Recycled Ocean-Bound Plastics

Polybutylenterephthalat

Flammschutzmittel

From the Sea to Electronics

Plastics are among the materials most widely used for food contact applications. While there is pressure to use recycled plastics in packaging in order to combat plastic waste, certain conditions must be met before food packaging can be considered safe.

Plastics Recycling for Direct Food Contact and Alternative Applications

Verpackungsmittel aus Kunststoffen

Food Safe Post Consumer Recyclate

Today plastics recycling is usually only classified as being either mechanical or chemical. This view ignores the fact that the main difference between the two is whether physical or chemical reactions are taking place. However, precise differentiation is crucial for any assessment of the possibilities and limitations of plastic recovery processes and whether materials are actually being recycled or merely their raw materials recovered.

A Comparison of Physical and Chemical Plastics Recycling

Kreislaufwirtschaft

The Role of Chemistry in  Plastics Recycling

Process technologies for manufacturing multilayer and multicomponent products offer great potential for using reprocessed plastic wastes even for plastic parts that are subject to strict requirements for surface quality, product protection or consumer safety. The key: to place the recycled material in the interior while the surface is made of virgin material. Engel has developed a variant of sandwich injection molding that allows high proportions of recycled material to be used even with complex part geometries.

Engel’s skinmelt Sandwich Process Paves the Way for Increased Use of Recycled Material

Spritzgießen

Werkstoffprüfung

Co-Injektion (Barriere-/Sandwich-Spritzgießen)

Recycling that Gets under the Skin

Polymer materials, including synthetic polymers, have a bad reputation. These image problems do not just arise from the current environmental debate but also have earlier origins. In the past, too, polymer materials were subject to unjustified criticism. This often stemmed from non-scientists and frequently betrayed a lack of scientific knowledge.

On the Image of Plastics and their Responsible Use

Polymer Materials

For almost two decades, an expert committee, meeting once a year, has supported Kunststoffe magazine in determining the state of play in the plastics industry and identifying current technical developments. This time, the traditional spring meeting gave it an opportunity to debate the consequences of the Corona virus.

Current Challenges and Options for Action in the Plastics Industry

Wirtschaftspolitik in Deutschland

Verpackungsmaterial

Starting up under the Shadow  of Corona