In the automotive industry, the use of plastic materials for the exterior and interior of vehicles is gradually increasing with the replacement of traditional materials such as metal. Plastic parts help reduce vehicle weight and, therefore, CO2 emissions. Moreover, as one of the world’s greatest consumers of plastics, the automotive industry is steadily increasing the percentage of recycled plastic to produce more sustainable vehicles and reduce their environmental impact.
With the aim of facilitating the use of recycled and renewable materials in the automotive sector, AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, has launched the SURFTOP Project, with funding from the Valencian Institute of Competitiveness and Innovation (IVACE+i) and the ERDF. The project focuses on studying the effects of using recycled material to manufacture parts for the interior and exterior of vehicles and aims to establish and develop technologies that make it possible to comply with vehicle interior air quality (VIAQ) requirements while maintaining the surface properties established by manufacturers.
As explained by Sergio Mayor Aroca, a researcher at the Automotive and Transportation Laboratory at Aimplas, “Improving the quality of recycled materials from cars is key to using them more in the sector. SURFTOP is part of a circular economy strategy because it focuses 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, to comply with the requirements established by the automotive industry for parts designed for interior and exterior use.”
The surface properties of plastics refer to the material’s surface characteristics, which can affect its appearance (gloss, colour, roughness), bonding capacity (especially for parts that will be painted) and resistance to wear, impact, scratching and chemical agents. Furthermore, inside the vehicle, it is necessary to guarantee low emissions of volatile organic compounds and odours from recycled plastic materials to comply with the requirements of manufacturers.
This project also involves Prisma Soporte Industrial, a company that handles injection moulding and painting of automotive parts, and which will help validate the process and functionality of the recycled materials so they comply with the quality and emission requirements of the final parts and will also help transfer the results. The recycling company GBP Metal Group will provide post-consumer recycled materials from specific car parts.
