Materials

Winner: Cray Valley (France) Partners: Mariskone (Spain), Disenöe innovacion S.L. (Spain) and Crepim (France)

The innovation is a bus toilet module made of intumescent resin and gelcoat meeting the highest fire rating in the EN 45545 standard. Following a life cycle analysis, this solution received the “TOTAL Ecosolutions” label due to its environmental benefits (lower CO2 emissions and energy consumption thanks to a lower density than standard fire-retardant polyester resins) and to the absence of halogen and CMR (carcinogen, mutagen, reprotoxic) substances.

This patented resin can be used in hand lay-up, spray up, RTM, BMC and pultrusion processes. This wide range of processing technologies make this solution unique compared with existing intumescent resins, whose viscosity is too high to be used in all these processes.The fact that this innovation can be moulded with RTM technology opens a wide range of applications with fonctionnal integration. This technology can be used with carbon fibre to save additional weight.It can also include up to 14% bio-resin content for greater environmental benefits.

The use of composite materials in mass transit results in weight savings, thus lowering energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Moreover, they provide more design freedom, making bus and train interior parts more user friendly (color, shape, warm touch). Finally, composites are a cost-effective solution for small-run production due to the lower tooling costs.Currently, composites only account for a small percentage of bus and railway vehicles by weight, compared with 20-50% for aircraft.
The market potential for this innovation is therefore divided into several thousand  metric tons of composite parts for bus and rolling stock in Europe and a greater volume related to metal substitution in the mass transit industry.

Other finalists in the Materials ________________________________________________________

•  A damping composite skin presented by Conseil & Technique (France) with its partners Ateca (France), BTS Industrie (France) and SKF AF (France).

•  Atlac® 5200 FC, the first corrosion-resistant vinylester resin with European approvals suitable for food contact and drinking water treatment applications, presented by DSM (Switezerland).

• Innovative, patented structural panels for the home construction industry presented by OCV Reinforcements (France) with partner AS Composite (Canada).