Research
29 May 2024
At present, recycled plastics, with their heterogeneous properties, are difficult for manufacturers to exploit. They are present in less than 25% of all products. Under current regulations, this percentage must reach 100% by January 1, 2025. The idea of the Icam teams is to intervene during the manufacturing process, more specifically during the extrusion process (which enables the manufacture of profiles), but the device can also be adapted to injection (manufacturing using molds). RECYPLAST-DEMO is the winner of the “academic research demonstrator” call for projects in 2022, with a total budget of €2 million and €700,000 in funding from the Pays de la Loire Region.
To find out more about the context of the project in conjunction with the Pays de la Loire Region :
The RECYPLAST-DEMO project involves developing a machine capable of adapting in real time to changes in the properties of the input material (heterogeneous recycled plastic) to guarantee the quality of the output parts.
Based on an extrusion machine, the multidisciplinary team works on integrating innovative technologies :
- A die (i.e., the drilled part used to produce the thread) for on-line measurement of the material’s mechanical and chemical properties ;
- A supervision system based on a digital twin of the machine and process to predict process behavior and parameter corrections to be applied ;
- End-of-line quality control to evaluate the process and feed the model behind the digital twin ;
- A fast heat exchanger system for highly dynamic material temperature control, combined with a thermoregulator for heat recovery and storage to improve process energy efficiency.
A mid-term progress report
After 2 years’ work, the project is now well underway, with: the specifications completed, the first real-time viscosity measurements carried out (a post-doc will be launched to refine the chemical analysis). Supervision with the digital twin is particularly promising in terms of technology transfer.
Teams divided into batches can call on in-house resources such as engineering students or international students in their 5th year, whether in MSI (industrial services within the Business Services Sector) or in a Research Master’s program.
A multidisciplinary, international team :
Physico-chemical characterization of materials :
- Eric LE GAL LA SALLE – scientific coordinator
- Juliana PREISNER – teacher-researcher
- Ghinwa EL HAJJ SLEIMAN – teacher-researcher
- Elena FARAH – PhD student (Nantes University, LTeN laboratory)
- Launch of a post-doc in 2025
Supervision – Digital twin
- Jérôme ROCHETEAU – teacher-researcher
- Amira SOUILAH – Doctoral student (Nantes University, LS2N Laboratory)
Thermal control
- Jérôme SOTO – Research Manager
- Erik BARDY – Guest researcher (Grove City College – USA)
- Soumaya AIT-MOULA – PhD student (LTeN / UIR – International University of Rabat – Morocco)
Demonstrator assembly
- Yoann ETOURNEAU – Business Services Manager
- Technical experts: Jérôme CADOUIN and Mickaël MOUSSIE
Contacts : Mathieu LADONNE – Project Manager – 06 74 89 73 13 – mathieu.ladonne@icam.fr
Visit the project website : https://lp.icam.fr/recyplast-demo/
The “Digital Twin” section is the subject of a detailed article on the PASCA website : https://pasca.fr/projet-de-recherche-recyplast-demo-la-digitalisation-de-latelier-de-plasturgie-de-licam/