Elium® thermoplastic resin for recyclable composite boats
Elium® resin is a material well adapted to the composite boats industry and their production. Specially adapted to resin infusion process of large parts with a low viscosity, long reactivity and low exothermy.
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Elium® is suitable to many key parts of a boat like hull, deck, gangway, helm, mast, foil wings and moulds in carbon, glass or natural fibers.
Thanks to 8 years of technical collaboration with the racing team Lalou Multi in France and the development of 3 world class competition sailing boats to date, Arkema 3, a 6.50 transatlantic boat and Arkema 4, a multi-50, Elium® resin has demonstrated superior mechanical performance to thermoset resin with the revolutionary and unique recyclability property.
Building a sailboat in recyclable thermoplastic composite is a world first.”
Most end-of-life boats are abandoned in sheds, moored in ship graveyards or sunk, causing irreversible damage.
Our Elium® resin allows to make recyclable thermoplastic composites. It is perfectly suited for building more durable and recyclable boats at the end of their life. Discover the secrets of the recycling process in the video on the right.
The recyclability of Elium® parts, an industrial reality
Arkema, with its Elium® resin, is joining forces with five partners to accelerate the circular economy in the marine industry. The key players in this alliance are:
- Groupe Beneteau - global manufacturer of sailboats and motorboats
- Veolia - world leader in waste management and environmental services
- Composite Recycling - pioneer in composite waste recycling and inventor of an innovative thermolysis technology
- Owens Corning - expert in glass fibre reinforcements
- Chomarat - specialist in technical textiles and reinforcements for composites
The thermolysis technology developed by Composite Recycling enables glass fibres and Elium® resin to be separated and recycled. This innovative process opens up new opportunities for the manufacture of new boats, as well as finding applications in other sectors such as the automotive and wind power industries.
On multi 50 Arkema 4 with cockpit, deckhouse, front outtrigger arm fairing are made with Elium® resin.
30% of the parts were made from recycled Elium® resin.
An exceptional boat: read the article
The Northern Light shipyard in Italy has also built a range of small, lightweight sailboats whose hull, deck and structure are made entirely of Elium® resin, natural fibers and recycled carbon.
Read Northern Light interview
We are offering something new, basing the design of our boats on recyclability.”