Hot, Too Hot

Mankind has tried many methods for its bar needs for centuries and today it has developed very different models up to smart buildings. No matter how you solve your shelter need in caves, tents, huts, flats or villas, the need for heating is a completely different problem.

Heating is a very long adventure, starting with animal furs, which could not be expressed as clothing in the early ages, and shaping fossil fuels and similar resources after fire, and this adventure continues non-stop. When we look at the recent past, wood or coal stoves, electric heaters, natural gas and similar fuels are among our heating methods. No matter how much the heating regulations change in line with sustainability and the use of resources, or how diverse the heating source is, the method of spreading the heat to the environment is not that different.

Although the methods of dissipating the heat vary in line with location-based resources and usage habits throughout the world, we think that the most known method is honeycombs. Research and development in terms of sustainability, of course, continues. EconCore is just one of those that serve sustainability with honeycomb panel technology for automotive, transportation and construction applications.

EconCore, the world leader in cost-effective honeycomb sandwich material production technology, has installed a new production line for lightweight honeycombs based on recycled PET (rPET). The EconCore group consists of EconCore NV in Belgium and ThermHex Waben GmbH in Germany, which focuses on the production of polypropylene (PP) honeycomb cores. rPET honeycomb cores are made from up to 100% recycled post-consumer and post-industrial waste. They can be laminated with PET or PET composite coatings to produce panels that are fully recyclable, sustainable and lightweight.

EconCore said advances in rPET honeycomb technology were triggered by increased demand and the market shift towards the use of more recyclable materials. “Then, recognizing the global problem of clustered PET waste, we decided to optimize the technology towards rPET materials,” said Tomasz Czarnecki, Head of Operations at EconCore. “This development was immediately noticed. We won the European Green Award and were awarded the prestigious Solar Impulse Label. But what is most rewarding is the attention we receive from the industry. We are currently running development programs on a number of applications where cost, weight and sustainability are critical.”

The EconCore team is well advanced in developing applications for rPET honeycombs in the automotive, transportation and construction industries. Advanced engineering plastics honeycombs are also used in aerospace applications. The production line can produce rPET honeycomb cores in widths of up to 1.2 meters and also allows processing of other thermoplastic materials such as polycarbonate, polyamide and polyetherimide.

Apparently, our living spaces are not hot anymore, but will be much warmer.