EconCore, DuPont Performance Materials collaborate on production of honeycomb panels

Belgium-based EconCore N.V. (Leuven), whose ThermHex technology for the continuous production of honeycomb sandwich materials has led to earlier collaborations with companies such as Tata Steel and Lanxess, has announced that its newest partnership is with DuPont Performance Materials on the development and production of wide, strong and rigid honeycomb panels, with tunable properties, depending on the choice of Dupont polymer used. EconCore’s ThermHex technology has proven to be capable of delivering high-performance sandwich panels at high efficiency and cost levels that, to date, have not been  achievable using conventional methods.

Already, Dupont’s Zytel nylon resin and Surlyn ionomer resin materials have been applied to produce cost-optimized lightweight sandwich products with tough, resilient and high-temperature-resistant honeycomb cores.

The honeycomb cores are combined with skins made of Vizilon thermoplastic composite, a very light, continuously reinforced fiber composite sheet based on a high-temperature-resistant, heat-stabilized polyamide matrix. Within the in-line integrated ThermHex technology, Zytel based honeycomb core can be welded with the Vizilon thermoplastic composite, yielding sandwich panels with a very stable core-skin interfacial connection.

“The patented continuous process to make light, rigid and strong cores really enables us to deliver unique possibilities to our customers,” said Fabrice Giaume, technical programs leader for DuPont Vizilon thermoplastic composite at the DuPont European technical center in Geneva.

“We also are looking at making honeycomb panels with dissimilar materials, using EconCore continuous process in combination with special high-temperature thermoplastic adhesives, such as DuPont Elvamide,” Giaume added, “offering a wider range of possible applications to the skin-core combination.”

EconCore N.V. and DuPont Performance Materials are targeting the transportation, construction, leisure and energy industries as areas offering a host of potential applications for the newly developed high-temperature-resistant, resilient and strong honeycomb panels.