ThermHex presents its honeycomb cores made of recycled PET (RPET) for the first time at the JEC World in Paris, the world’s largest exhibition for composites. From 12 to 14 March 2019 ThermHex will give industry professionals a first look at the new product variations – Made in Germany. With the new RPET honeycomb core, the company is reasonably expanding its range: recycled PET saves resources and relieves the burden on the environment.

Climate-friendly and sustainable: RPET is green to the core

The honeycomb core made of recycled PET is not green without a reason: It is already clear from the outside what is at the heart of this new, even more environmentally friendly product variation. With the RPET honeycomb core customers have the choice of incorporating more environmental aspects into their purchasing decision in addition to quality criteria. Two years have been invested in the development in order to be able to offer an even more ecological core. Thanks to the worldwide patented production process and the fully recyclable polypropylene (PP) honeycomb core, the CO2 footprint of ThermHex is very small already – now the climate balance could be improved even more.

The RPET honeycomb core is produced in Halle (Saale) – in the central German region. From autumn 2019, interested customers can order it regularly in the same product variations and cell sizes as the proven PP honeycomb core. The fields of application are just as versatile: The RPET core can be used within automotive products, for prefabricated bathrooms, yacht interior, wind turbines, swimming pools, furniture and many other scenarios.

Cost-effective lightweight: Organosandwich will also go into series production in autumn 2019

Starting in autumn 2019, customers will also be able to order the Organosandwich presented last year at JEC World. Consisting of two thin cover layers of thermoplastic fiber composites (UD tape glass-fiber reinforced polypropylene) and a ThermHex PP honeycomb core, the Organosandwich offers a high rigidity at a minimum weight. The thermoplastic material can be formed into complex components and functionalized. The production process is more resource-efficient and significantly less expensive than conventional production of sandwich components.

Due to the material properties, the interest in the Organosandwich is already very high especially within the automotive industry. The technology to produce hybrid sandwich components based on semi-finished Organosandwich products was developed in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems (IMWS).