EconCore exhibits for the first time at TMC Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition Information in Nashville, Tenn.

EconCore will be exhibiting for the first time at the upcoming 2017 TMC Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition Information in Nashville, Tennessee (February 27 to March 1, Booth 853), where it will be presenting its revolutionary technology for the continuous production of honeycomb sandwich materials.

The main goal of EconCore at TMC is support of one of its recent US-based licensees – Wabash National Corporation, a leading American manufacturer of truck and trailer bodies. EconCore will also present different light-weighting options through various possible sandwich material combinations that the honeycomb technology allows for. The applications in heavy duty transportation include roofing and walls of trucks and trailers, aerodynamic elements, cladding of vans as well as solutions for logistics and storage.

EconCore is the leader in honeycomb sandwich technology, with licensees around the world using its patented technology to produce sandwich materials for a variety of applications.  The fast and efficient process is ideal for companies operating in cost sensitive applications, including automotive and transportation, industrial packaging, and building & construction. The versatile EconCore’s process is capable of producing honeycombs from a wide range of thermoplastics with in-line integrated lamination of skin materials of various types.

Fit for mass production in the transportation sector

In North America there is increasing demand for cost-effective lightweight solutions for many applications, especially in the automotive and transportation sector. Reducing the weight of new cars in order to deliver better fuel economy is a major focus for automakers worldwide.

EconCore joined forces with market leading companies to develop new thermoplastic composite sandwich materials which open new perspectives particularly in automotive and wider transportation applications. By incorporating EconCore’s efficient production technology with fiber reinforced thermoplastics skins, a sandwich panel can be made that has excellent mechanical properties, while still being cost competitive compared to traditional sheet materials. The honeycomb panels can also be molded into finished 3D parts through a one shot thermoforming process.

The combination of thermoplastic honeycomb cores with thermoplastic composite facings results in recyclable sandwich composites that raise performance by another notch in terms of strength and stiffness. Thermoplastic composite sandwich structures, with their high-quality mechanical properties, are suitable for replacing metals in many areas and thus reducing weight, for instance, in motor vehicles, but also in the building and transportation industries, boat and furniture building and recreational vehicles.

Another very effective hybrid material combination, with outstanding rigidity-to-weight ratio, is a laminate of thermoplastic honeycomb core with metal skins. Today, two licensees of EconCore operate on this technology: TATA Steel in Europe and Wabash National Corporation in North America.

Visit EconCore at TMC in Nashville, Tenn. or at www.econcore.com for more information on the honeycomb technology.