Radiator grilles with PC and PET recyclates are to go into series production for Audi models.
 

Audi is using recycled materials for the first time in the series production of radiator grilles for the Audi A3 Sportback and Audi A3 Saloon, according to the compounder and recycling specialist Mocom, which is involved in a project in this area. The development is said to be the result of a co-operation between Mocom, the plastics processor Winning Plastics and Audi. According to Werner Meschitz, Head of Innovations at Winning Plastics, no suitable recyclates were available for the application, which is why a recyclate compound was developed with Mocom, which is partly based on painted scrap components from the company's own production. According to Meschitz, the usual recycling processes for scrap parts leave behind too many impurities and paint residues, which makes it impossible to reuse the recycled material in a new radiator grille. ‘With new, alternative process steps from Mocom, in which paint stripping plays a key role, we can now guarantee the required purity of the recyclate and thus realise a perfect material cycle,’ explains Meschitz. Rejects from the production of painted radiator grilles with visual defects such as dust inclusions would be shredded. After shredding, the paint would be removed by means of high friction, among other things, and the paint-removed PC+PET regrind is further processed into regranulate. This PC+PET recyclate would then be used in the production of new radiator grilles, so that these contained 27 per cent recycled material.
 
Sources:

• Press release Mocom (3.9.2024)
• Photo: © Audi