21 Feb REPOXYBLE: new EU project on bio-based plastics for automotive and aerospace just started
The new Horizon Europe project REPOXYBLE started on January 18th 2023 at Brussels and will last until May 2026.
The project aims to develop a new class of high-performance advanced materials targeting cost and energy effectiveness, recyclability, and thus sustainability, for the aerospace and automotive sector. For this, the so-called Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) approach will be investigated and applied by the multidisciplinary team of the project.
As the European Green Deal and the Europe’s Digital Decade establish high-priority policies for Europe regarding sustainability and green transition, we will develop innovative and bio-based lightweight polymer-nanocomposites, which are indispensable in the aeronautic and automotive industries.
Such advanced materials play a key role in manufacturing fuel-efficient and high-performing vehicles, but the poor recyclability and end-of-life aspect poses a significant challenge. This is where REPOXYBLE comes in: minimising resource demand and energy of manufacturing processes, using bio-based and safe (non-toxic) raw materials and optimising chemical recycling. The project will mitigate cost and product’s end-to-end footprint of the product throughout the lifecycle, significantly improving its overall environmental performance.
Moreover, REPOXYBLE assumes an upstream approach more efficient and effective which integrates product performance, multifunctionality, sustainability, safety, and potential legal concerns since the beginning of the development of these advance materials (the monomers’ synthesis, the resin formulation including nanomaterial-based additives and the future composite design). Our role in the project is to provide the physicochemical properties of the new resins, the study of their curing kinetics and the characterization of the thermomechanical properties of the composites at coupon level.
The consortium consists of universities, companies, and end users and is led by Avanzare Innovacion Tecnologica sl (ES). Project partners are Fundación Gaiker (ES), Onyriq Labs sl (ES), Temas Solutions GmbH (CH), University of Patras (GR), University of Ljubljana (SI), DAC – Campania Aerospace Tecnology District (IT), OMI – Officine Meccaniche Irpine srl (IT), University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (AT), Airi – Italian Association for Industrial Research (IT), Saturntech Unipesoal ld (PT), Riversimple Movement ltd (UK), GURIT Limited (UK), Universitat de Girona (ES), and University of Bath (UK).
