OREANDA-NEWS. April 12, 2012. Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. has developed foam-molded products using recycled PET flakes (Note 1) for raw material, aiming to reduce the burden on the environment and develop lightweight materials. By using this foam molding technology, it is possible to create products that are lighter and more rigid than existing PP resin molded products. We plan to develop these products as a replacement for the PP resin molded products currently widely used for plastic containers, consumer electronics and other items.
 
 Development Context

The annual sales volume for PET bottles is 595,000 tons and the recovered volume is 429,000 tons (2010). However, applications for use are still limited even though the reclaimed material is recycled as fiber. Now, Furukawa Electric has developed foam molds foamed to a factor of 2, using PET flakes from crushed and recycled PET bottles as the raw material.
 
Product Features

The foam molds that use recycled PET flakes deliver both lightweight and high rigidity, and can be used to produce precision molds corresponding to three-dimensional shapes. Since we do not use chemical foaming agents for the foaming, the environmental features are also outstanding with no hazardous gases or chemical foaming residues. It is also possible to adjust rigidity according to the purpose by changing the foaming ratio or adding the reinforcing agent.