— By Plasteurope.com correspondent — 

An automotive programme to mass produce painted radiator grilles containing 27% recyclate content from post-industrial materials has been realised in a collaboration between German carmaker Audi (Ingolstadt; www.audi.com), compatriot plastics processor Winning Plastics (Hamburg; www.winningplastics.com), and German plastics compounder Mocom (Hamburg; www.mocom.eu).

The radiator grilles are being made from a blend of polycarbonate and PET recyclates for Audi’s A3 Sportback and A3 Sedan, Mocom said. Suitable recyclates for the programme were not available off-the-shelf, which led Winning Plastics to partner with Mocom’s recycling technology subsidiary Wipag (Hamburg; www.wipag.com) to develop a recycled compound that incorporates painted scrap components from Winning Plastics’ own production, the company said.

Related: Audi, Mercedes-Benz incorporate more recycled material in serial production

In the recycling process, defective and scrap painted radiator grilles are shredded into approximately 30 mm pieces, then processed in a hammer mill by Mocom to remove the paint primarily through friction. The resulting debris is vacuumed away, and the paint residue is discarded. 

The depainted PC+PET material is further processed by extrusion, where it undergoes fine melt filtration, passing through special filters. The resulting PC+PET recyclate is then blended at a nominal 27% into a compound.