PAPER, PACKAGING & PRINTING
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ounded just 13 years ago, the Belgian company EconCore, headquartered in Leuven, has managed an impressive breakthrough. The technologies that the company developed for the production of honeycomb cores have won the interest of leading companies from many industries. EconCore materials and processes combine a honeycomb structure long appreciated in aerospace with efficient packaging production technologies, enabling cost-effective continuous production of thermoplastic honeycombs with successive in-line operations for various applications. “The company was established in 2005 with a view to providing technology for honeycomb core production and in the first few years the focus was on making sure the technology could be offered on an industrial scale,” recalls Mr Czarnecki. “A major milestone came in 2009 when we sold the first license to a Japanese customer. This was an important moment because the EconCore technology, which until then had basically been only a concept, was put into operation for the first time and duly verified.” Soon after EconCore established a subsidiary in Germany for the production of polypropylene honeycomb cores using its own technology. This was another milestone, confirming that the company was on the right track and accelerating further growth.
EconCore offers technologies for the continuous production of the most economic honeycomb core thermoplastic materials (ThermHex). The ThermHex core is produced from a single sheet by thermoforming, folding and bonding. ThermHex honeycombs have closed skin strips, allowing for the perfect bonding of skins onto the core. Due to the efficient process, the resulting sandwich panels are not only exceptionally strong and lightweight but also very cost-effective. Furthermore, the versatility of the technology allows the direct lamination of thermoplastic skins as well as other facing layers (including, for instance, composites and metal) onto the thermoplastic honeycomb core to make the lightweight sandwich panels suitable for different applications. “Our first sector was packaging but we soon moved to the automotive and other industries for which weight reduction has become essential. A good example is the solar energy sector, where the honeycomb core panels, with their minimal weight, high strength and sufficient heat tolerance, seem to meet all the requirements. Our focus on lightweighting has also opened up new opportunities in the mass transportation and aviation sectors, which we are now exploring. We have some really interesting projects coming up with some prominent partners,” says Mr Czarnecki.
Strong, lightweight and cost-effective “So on one hand, we manufacture polypropylene honeycomb cores in the German plant, and on the other we license the technology to leading companies in different market segments. This really is our core business,” says Mr Czarnecki, summarising the company’s focus. Today, the list of EconCore licensees is growing and includes, among others, Renolit Group, Gifu Plastic, Tata Steel, Röplast, ThermHex Waben GmbH, Fynotej and Wabash National.
in-line process
Industry Europe 121