Building Industry: Creating sustainable building materials

With the increasing demand for alternative materials, the plastics industry is experiencing interest in the incorporation of recycled content into products. However, incorporating recycled content into foamed products, particularly in the building and construction sector, can compromise product consistency, mechanical strength, and overall performance

Without effective solutions to process and reuse these mixed plastic streams, designing for recyclability remains a formidable challenge, adds materials supplier ExxonMobil.

To address the challenge, a collaborative effort across the value chain was initiated, involving key industry players including recycling machinery provider Erema, foaming supplier Moxietec LLC, injection moulding machine maker Engel, and ExxonMobil with Vistamaxx performance polymers playing an important role.

Recycling systems provider Erema produced pellets using its filtration and degassing system. The process handled a mixed stream of recyclates comprising 95% PP rigid materials and 5% PE film supplied by Prezero.

Foam technology provider Moxietec utilised its technology to produce lightweight locking blocks that can be used in the construction sector without reducing impact strength which other conventional foaming processes often compromise.

The addition of Vistamaxx performance polymers helped to improve the impact resistance and toughness of the foamed components, enabling the incorporation of recycled content without compromising structural integrity. Meanwhile, machinery maker Engel integrated these elements by incorporating recycled materials and foaming technology into its injection moulding systems to produce thick-walled foamed blocks designed specifically for building and construction applications.

Promising end results

The dart drop impact testing shows that foam parts manufactured using Moxietec’s technology exhibited a 10% improvement in impact strength, measured by total energy at break, compared to conventional solid parts. This enhancement was particularly significant given that traditional foaming processes typically compromise impact performance relative to solid materials.

In addition to mechanical benefits, Moxietec’s technology enabled incorporation of rPP content with a final part weight approximately 30% lower than conventional solid parts. Further performance optimisation was achieved through the incorporation of Vistamaxx performance polymers without sacrificing the weight reduction.

Despite these polymer enhancements, the foam maintained its fine, uniform cellular structure with no compromise in quality or performance, indicating successful integration of the additive materials into the manufacturing process.

These resulting blocks, designed for the building and construction industry, offer design flexibility for single walls, double walls, and corner structures.

According to the companies, the collaboration demonstrates the potential for cross-industry partnerships to solve complex sustainability challenges while maintaining performance standards.

By leveraging complementary expertise across the value chain, the partnership shows how innovative foamed solutions can meet demanding performance requirements while optimising material use.

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