The Spanish Plastics Technology Centre, Aimplas, has started a new research project investigating the use of recycled plastics in automotive applications.
Called Surftop, the project is a Valencia-based collaboration with Prisma Soporte Industrial, an injection moulder of automotive parts, and GBP Metal Group, a scrap recycler which will provide post-consumer recycled materials from car parts.
The research project focusses on studying the effects of using recycled material to manufacture parts for the interior and exterior of vehicles. Ultimately, it aims to establish and develop technologies that comply with vehicle interior air quality (VIAQ) requirements while maintaining the surface properties established by manufacturers.
Emissions from plastic components in the interior of a vehicle is one of the three main sources responsible for VIAQ. In order to comply with the standards, the recycled materials used must have low-emissions of volatile organic compounds and low-odours.
“Improving the quality of recycled materials from cars is key to using them more in the sector,” said Sergio Mayor Aroca, a researcher at the automotive and transportation laboratory at Aimplas. “Surftop is part of a circular economy strategy because it focusses on obtaining recycled raw materials from automotive industry waste for the manufacture of new parts that will be analysed in terms of volatile and semi-volatile compounds, as well as surface properties, in order to comply with the requirements established by the automotive industry for parts designed for interior and exterior use.”
Aimplas will study surface properties of recycled plastics including gloss, colour, roughness, bonding capacity (particularly for parts that will be painted), and resistance to wear, impact, scratching, and chemical agents.
The group’s research will also involve optimising the treatment processes necessary to obtain recycled materials from automotive sector waste, as well as the development of a methodology to analyse volatile and semi-volatile compounds and surface properties complying with VIAQ.
Aimplas joins many other members of the plastics industry value chain accelerating the transition to a circular economy for automotive parts. Since the European Commission updated its Directive on end-of-life vehicles, setting a 25% recycled plastic mandate for vehicles placed on the market from July 2023, companies like Borealis, Covestro, or Mocom, or have increased their offering of recycled materials for the automotive industry.